


Whirlwind

by Harpuia



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 06:44:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 59,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9981272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harpuia/pseuds/Harpuia
Summary: Max is new at Blackwell Academy. She is about to decorate her new dorm room, when she gets suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door. AU





	1. Welcome to the dork side

The rays from the early midday sun shines through the windows of her new home. Chaos dominates the current state of the room. Closed and half opened boxes covering the floor, books lying around everywhere, a plant with the name “Lisa” written on the pot standing next to the window and the laptop on the desk is playing some random songs from her iTunes library.

Max sits on her couch and staring at the empty wall above her bed, trying to figure the best way to decorate the empty space to make her new dorm room a bit more comfortable for her.

After 5 years of absence she finally is back at her hometown, Arcadia bay. At her drive through the town to her school, the brunette could see that not much has changed in all the years. The lighthouse is still standing as remarkable as ever at the cliff, give the town the peacefully yet mysterious touch she always missed back in Seattle. The Two Whales Diner also looked the same as when she left, with its rusty old sign above the entrance.

_I wonder if Joyce still works there. Some of her famous pancakes would be an awesome welcome nosh, but what if I run into Chloe? Or worse, what if Joyce is mad at me? Ugh I suck for not keeping in touch._ She thought while a groan escaped her lips.

“Seems like no Two Whales until I met Chloe and apologized for being a loser.” Said Max with a barely audible and sad voice.

_She probably has forgotten about me anyway and has tons of other friends now. Can’t blame her if she doesn’t want me back in her life again. Maybe I shouldn’t even try to contact her._

With the current thought echoing in her mind, her eyes wander through the new home and come to a halt at the still empty wall.

_Okay Max, enough self-pity for today. Time to move your lazy ass and to make that empty wall lovely dovely comfy. But how?_

Max stands up, takes a few steps to the wall and stares intensely at it before she finally closes her eyes.

_Don’t disappoint me brain, I know you have an idea somewhere deep inside! What was that?  My Polaroids? That sounds like an awesome idea! Good job brain!_

“So where is the box with my pictures?”

 

* * *

 

Polaroid after polaroid took place at the empty wall over the thirty minutes. There wasn’t really any system in how they were ordered. Max just grabbed inside the box, took one photo and pinned it at the wall.

A sudden knock at the door disturbs the photographer from her work on the now half decorated wall.

_Who could that be? I don’t know anyone here yet. Man I hope I haven’t pissed someone off or something. Max.. don’t be ridiculous, you haven’t spoken to anyone yet, how could you have pissed someone off? But then you never know. Damn and I don’t have cookies to pay the dark side.. yet._

While snickering at her own joke, a second knock brings Max out of her thoughts. As she walks closer to the door she can hear two voices talking from behind it. Curiosity overtakes her and she decides to check who is standing on the other side of the closed door before she will open it. With one ear pressed against the door, the nosy girl can hear two female voices.

“…eally have to make friends with everyone here, don’t you?” said one voice in a slightly aggressive tone.

“Are you actually jealous because I didn’t do that on your first day?” the other, more friendly voice responded in a sassy way.

Max just could hear a “Whatever.” from the other girl outside before a third knock at her door appeared.

_She sounds nice and it can’t hurt to try to make friends here... If someone wants to be friends with a shy geek girl anyway. Not like I haven’t tried before._

_No cut it Max! You said no more thoughts like that. Just take a breath, put on a smile and open the damn door already!_

Not waiting for a third knock, the shy brunette opened the entrance to her domain with the best smile on her face she could afford.

“Hello, sorry t…” the gaze the other girl gave her made her stop midsentence. Max can’t help but to be stunned by that beautiful smile and the intense beaming look of two piercing eyes she gets. Even if she wanted to, she just couldn’t look away. Her cheeks slowly getting warmer and warmer and she noticed she must look like an idiot by now.

_Oh god.. What are you doing here Max? There must been 5 minutes passed by now. Say something damnit._

“Uhh.. I am M...”

“WEEEELCOOOOME TO BLACKWELL ACADEMY!” shouted to other girl in a cheerfully and tackles Max without hesitation in a tight hug. Completely surprised by that and with a bit too much force by the strange girl, the shy photographer can’t hold her balance and fly backwards with the sweet attacker to the ground.

“God what a freakshow. I don’t need this.” mumbled the girl on the opposite side of Max room and disappeared into her room.

“Ouch.”

“Omg. I am so sorry. Are you hurt? I just couldn’t hold back, you looked so cute with your freckles and blue eyes. Say do you like girls?”

“Uhh, no I don’t think so.” Said Max while she was still in a shock from the current event. “NO. I mean I don’t think I am hurt! Not that I don’t like girls!”

_WTF? Why did i say that? I mean I never really thought about that stuff. Maybe I do like girls? But then I also find boys cute. Like the one I saw earlier with that “meow” pulli. But he was talking to another girl,  probably his girlfriend. They were flying a drone or something. Man, I don’t have a cool hobby like that. No boy ever want a boring photographer like me anyway, so maybe I should try it with a gir.._

Two mesmerizing eyes interrupted the spaced out brunettes stream of consciousness.

“You do like to zone out, don’t you?” said the girl currently on the top of Max more as a statement than a question.

Max just gazed back into these damned eyes. She can’t come up with a proper response.

“Well I am glad that you are not hurt. Sorry again.”

“It’s alright.” Replied Max.

_Took you a while to respond to that Max. I must look like a total idiot by now._

“No you don’t.” Said the girl above her.

“Huh?”

“No you don’t look like an idiot.” Repeated the girl patiently.

_Shit, I said that out loud?_

“Okay after that maybe a bit.” Explained the girl with a smile on her face. “But I wonder about another thing.” Mentioned the attacker with a slight smirk.

“Uhh. What thing?”

“Are you enjoying it that I lie on you the whole time? You don’t seem to mind. Not that I do, you are very comfy.” Snickered the sassy girl.

“No. I mean yes. I mean no.. oh gaaawd.” Stuttered Max as response.

_Okay Max, if you don’t want to die from embarrassment today, just breath deep in and out and finally say something proper!_

“Sorry, can you please stand up?”

“Of course. But just for the record, I’m usually not the type who make out with someone in the first 5 minutes.” Joked the girl while standing up and offering a hand to the brunette on the ground.

_Let me die already. PLEASE!_

Max exhaled a deep breath before she took the offering hand. Standing on her two feets again she noticed that the door was closed, but neither one of the two girls was able to do it while the current event happened.

_Who was that? I hope no one has taken any pictures or something. But what if? Fuck Max, you are barely half a day here and everyone will already think of you as a joke. Great. Not even cookies can save me now. Well whatever. That are problems from future Max. Focus on the now, somehow you are still alive and you are not alone._

“So uhh, for some reason you don’t think I’m an idiot by now. How about we pretend the _you lying on me_ thing never happened and give it another shot?” asked the shy girl with an unsure smile.

_Give it another shot? That would be a great title for a book or something. Ugh NOT NOW BRAIN!_

After a short moment the visitor answered, “Fine. On one condition! You will let me treat you something to nosh to apologize my Rambo attack.”

“You serious? How can I say no to free food? Deal!” visibly relaxed Max reaches out her right hand, “Okay. Here we go. New beginning. Hi, my name is Ma..”

“Max Caulfield. I know.” Interrupted the visitor while taking the offered hand.

_Are you fucking kidding me? How does she know that?_

“Uhh yeah exactly. Sorry for the chaos here. As you can see I haven’t expected any visitors today.”

“Oh don’t worry about it. My room is more ground zero as yours now, so I feel pretty comfy here. In fact I just wanted to welcome you at Blackwell Academy. I never wanted to intrude your room. Well, oops I guess.” explained the girl with an apologetic look and her trademark smile on the lips.

_She is always smiling, and wowser is that a sweet smile. I really must have looked like a complete dork earlier at the door. But she said I didn’t. Overall she seems so carefree and confident. Unlike me who always doubt herself and have second thoughts about everything. I hope she doesn’t realize how boring I am. At least she is nice to me. For now. It could be worse on my firs..._

“You are a photographer?” interrupted the still mysterious girl her train of thoughts.

“Wha?”

Max searches for the guest in her room and find her looking at the half finished photo wall.

“Oh, yeah. I’m a photographer. Even if my shots suck, I like to call me that.”

“Dude, what are you talking about? These shots are great. I can already tell that you have a great eye for things just by looking at them!”

“Thank you.” With a tiny smile on her face, Max walked next to her and looked at the wall together with the other girl. Her eyes inspected every picture she had putted on it earlier. There are photos from many places she visited since she got the polaroid camera at her birthday 6 years ago.

Some pictures are from Seattle, some are from trips she made with her parents or Fernando and Kristen, the only true friends she could make back there.

_I already miss you two. I will visit you as soon as I can. Swear._

A few others were taken before she left Arcadia Bay. Of course they look like a kid has taken them, but Max like her them nonetheless. One picture shows just a typical summer day at the beach, another some animals in the woods. A blurry Two Whales sign is on another one and the last pictures the old lighthouse with its red and white painting.

_I totally have to go to the lighthouse again to take some shots. I always regret to never have taken a photo from the sunset up there._

“Say, how do you decide what is worthy enough to be framed from you?”

Max pondered a few moments before she finally answered, “Good question I never thought about it. I just do it I guess. Go with my gut feeling. Sometimes I just like the colors, or the landscape, the presence of the place, the situation. When I see something that feels right I just have to take a pic of it. It makes me feel like nothing else matters. No time, no pressure, no others. Just me, the motive and the moment.”

Both girls looked in silence at the wall after what the photographer has said.

_Why doesn’t she say something? I must have bored her with my answer. It was pretty lame anyway. Better say sorry to safe at least you free food, Max… if it’s not already too late for this._

“Sorry, that probably sounds pretty lame and bo...”

“Don’t be sorry.” Interrupted the other girl.

_Huh?_

“Huh?”

They both detach their gaze at the wall and turned their heads towards each other.

“Don’t apologize for the reason you love something, Max. What you said wasn’t lame, it was beautiful and came deep from within there.” Taking a step forward, the other girl gently poked the brunette at her heart. Looking Max in the eyes she continued, “You sound so full of yourself, full with passion and without a doubt about yourself when you are talk about photography. And why shouldn’t you? Look at the pictures you take. They are amazing!”

_Damn Max. My parents always said similar things, but I thought it’s because they are my parents. They have to, right? It’s so nice to hear it from a stranger for once. Wowser, I think i have a new fan now._

“Thank you. It means lot to me.” Said the photographer with a full grown smile on her lips.

“You are welcome. It’s just the truth.” She replied with a lowered voice. Still gazing in the photographer in her eyes, the girls lips start to slowly move closer to max mouth.”

_EMERGENCY. FULL STOP. TIME OUT. WTF IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW? Is she really going to do what I think? Why? I don’t even know if I like girls, nor have I ever kissed someone before. I am so fucking not ready for this! Shit you have no time to figure this out right now. Think straight. Move Max. Say something. Do something!! Don’t just stand there idiot!_

Before their lips can connect the girl stop her movement and said with a smirk, “Now, huggies? I promise I let you on your feet this time.”

Without waiting for a response she puts her arms around Max and embrace her in a warm hug.

_Fuck I made myself an idiot for the 100 th time today. Crap, my cheeks feel like they burn from blushing. Tomato Max confirmed. At least she does not make fun of me. She doesn’t make the impression to be a meanie bitch anyway. _

After the current shock started to wear off, Max returned the hug she already got. A welcome mellow feeling spread inside her body which makes her never want to leave the current status quo.

A short moment passed before both girls break the comfort from each other.

“I would love to hang out more, but I have to go now. I have to meet up with someone and I am already late. Sorry.” Said the girl with an apologetic look.

“Oh okay. I hope you are not in trouble because of me.”

“Not at all, she is late every time herself anyway.” She assured with a waving hand before her face.

_Thank god. Would suck if she is too late because of me. What was her name again? I totally forgot to ask that! Shit._

As the girl opened the door and was already half way through, the freckled girl abruptly blurted out, “Wait! You never told me your name.”

The mysterious girl stopped halfway out of the room. After a short pause and with a grin on her face she answered “Let’s just say I’m the new Amber in your life.” closed the door behind her and left a confused Max behind.

_…what the hell does that mean now?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Here I am to proof every one of you that I am not a writer. Given that I am no native english speaker and have no plan what to write, what could possibly go wrong, right? :P Please have mercy with grammar and other mistakes <3
> 
> I often say that I am not a writer to other authors and members in my community, when they say “you should write something” and up until now I always was happy to just read fanfics. What changed? Not much, I just gone insane and put more on the list I want to do this year T_T
> 
> About the chapter itself,  
> I know already how I want to end it and I have 2-4 events in my mind. But according to how much I changed in that chapter I don’t know how the fanfic will turn out. Nothing is set in stone yet. We will see where it all leads haha :D
> 
> As you have seen Max thoughts are everywhere. These parts were the easiest for me to write, so we will see a lot more of it in the future! :D I just hope I haven’t made Max too dorky. On the other side she was totally overwhelmed by the “mysterious girls” sass :P
> 
> Speaking of, sorry for always referring to her as “..girl” blablabla. I didn’t want to describe any details to keep her person a secret up until the end of the chapter. Please forgive me that, it will be better in the future! Promise :D
> 
> The chapter title is totally stolen from my fellow LiS Fan Samm and “Give it another shot” is a friendly nod MaiQueti and her Fanfic. :D
> 
> And with that I thank you for reading my first chapter. Please leave review what you think about it, if you feel like it. Thanks <3
> 
> NO EMOJI


	2. Timeout

After finishing her work on the memorial wall, Max decided to let the chaos in her room stay like it is for the moment. What she needs now is a break. Not letting the beautiful September day going to be a waste, she went outside and was looking for a place where is can be for herself.

After scanning the area of a silent place, the new Blackwell student decided to sit down at a bench near a tree on the corner of the yard. Equipped with earphones, Max escaped the real world by listening to some of her favorite music on this mild autumn day. With her faithful messenger bag on her lap and enjoying the warm sunshine mildly burning on her skin, the brunette let her mind roam freely.

_Mhh exactly what I need now, comfy sunshine and time to relax from.. whatever that was earlier. Seriously what happened there? I make myself a total fool and she doesn’t make fun of me? Even asked for a food date?_

_..DATE? Shit was she hitting on me? Why would she? She doesn’t even know me. Wtf was that question if I like girls anyway? And I dumbass stutter such a bullshit. Ugh, well done Max._

_Otherwise it never crossed my mind. Can’t deny, she looks beautiful. This beaming smile. Her piercing eyes. Like she seeing right into my soul. What was the color? Hazel? Yes, I think that was it. Her face, so pretty. Long blonde hair and, was that a blue feather earring? It just fits her perfectly. She could be a model for sure. Even more with her body. These curves. The total opposite from me up there ..and overall. How could someone like that have any interest in me?_

_STOP. What the eff are you doing Max? Checking her out in your mind? Wishing that she actually would have kissed you back then? Ugh. You need to chill girl. Alright brain, topic change._

She opened her messenger bag and grabbed a bottle of water. Taking a break from her current mind excursion, the freckled brunette took a few sips from the refreshing water and observed the few other who are with her at the yard.

There was a girl with pink long hair was sitting on an old tree on the other side of the field. The black haired girl she saw earlier was flying her drone again, this time without the boy which was with her earlier. Two Boys were skating around the yard, practicing some tricks. Enjoying the warms of the sun, another two girls were lying on the green. 

_I can’t believe I made it out here without anyone laughing at me. I must admit, I was pretty sneaky. Ninja level sneaky. Blackwell, has a new sneaky Snake now. NO ONE WILL EVER NOTICE ME! Or more likely, just no one has seen her lyin.. ehhm what happened earlier._

_Except this other girl. She vanished into her room fast tho. And maybe that “Ember” girl closed the door when I wasn’t paying attention. Not like she hasn’t a thousand opportunities while I was zoned out. Anyway seems like I’m safe.. for now. Good idea to let the future me handle this! Time high five to past Max. You rock!_

_..not so much for bailing on Chloe._

_Ugh. It’s so much shit that I had to leave the town right after what happened to William. And of course you was too chicken to contact your BEST friend in 5 fucking years. I totally should have, but I felt so guilty for leaving her, betray her, when she needed me the most. And Williams death had hit me so much too. I just couldn’t…_

She lets out a deep sight.

_Shit, these are all lame excuses Max, you know that. I can never tell that Chloe. You need a plan what to say to her, Max. If she wants to see me at all and don’t bump the door right into my face the moment she sees me. You suck at being a friend Caulfield, that’s how it is. Simple reality._

Paying attention to the real world again, the dreamy photographer notice a girl with long blonde hair falling over her shoulders is standing right next to her. Her eyes are directed at Max, giving her a slightly concerned look, yet her lips is showing a sweet and sympathetic smile.

_How long is she standing there and watching me? And why is she giving me that concerned look? But OMG is that a sweet smile. Seriously what is it here with the girls and their smiles? Is this a class here? Smiling class? Sounds easy and fun, count me in!_

_Hmm, maybe she wants to be your friend._

_..Get real Max, you know how possible that is. Why should it here be any different as in Seattle?_

_No! I said this will be a fresh start. No more self-doubt! Go Max, you got this! Maybe…_

The dreamy girl turned the music off and putted the earphones back in her pocket while she asked, “Sorry, I spaced out a bit. Bad habit. Can I help you somehow?”

“You have no reason to apologize. I have to be sorry for disturbing you, it’s just… this bench is my favorite place here and I wanted to ask if the seat next to you is still free?” explained the girl next to Max herself, her smile growing even sweeter.

_How am I supposed to say no to this? You are so weak Max._

“Oh, sure. My invisible friend just left, so it’s all yours!”

_Wtf was that? Way to make a dumb impression. Damage control! Fast!_

“Sorry, weird humor alarm. So uhm.. Hi I’m Max, nice to meet you.”

The cute blonde chuckled a bit before she replied, “I’m Kate, pleased to meet you too.” and sat down next to the freckled girl.

After a short moment of silence Kate asked with a caring voice, “Excuse me if I am too nosy, but is everything alright?”

“Huh? Why?” asked the confused brunette.

“You just looked a bit sad earlier, so I thought maybe something is bothering you. I’m Sorry.”

_Aww how sweet is that? She doesn’t even know me and is worried nonetheless. Maybe I will keep her._

“Oh! Oh nono, I’m good I’m good! No worries.” Reassured Max and added after a short pause, “And It is actually pretty sweet of you and not nosy at all, trust me, I know what I’m talking about. Next to you sits the queen of nosiness. If you ever need some detective work to be done, just call me. I put MAXimum effort in any case.”

_Too much Max. Waaay too much._

“I’ll keep it in mind.” Replied the friendly blonde with another chuckle.

A sudden vibration in her pocket got Max attention. She fetched her phone out and gave the screen a confused look.

 **Mysterious girl ;):** I got us munchies.

 **Mysterious girl ;):** Meet me at 7pm at my lair :D

 **Max:** What the?

 **Max:** do you have mind reading powers or how have you got my number?

 **Mysterious girl ;):** Only one way to find out: Food date! Later! :*

 **Max:** Groan!

 **Max:** Fine munchies and secrets.. which number has your secret lair?

 **Mysterious girl ;):** Who knows? :P

 **Mysterious girl ;):** Sorry, no time to chitty chat now.

 **Mysterious girl ;):** laterz x3

 **Max:** y u do this? -_-

_She never makes things easy huh? Time to live up to your posing earlier, I guess. Rising of detective Max. Use your own super power, super nosiness! Prepare yourself Blackwell, no secret is save anymore!_

_Maybe Kate knows her? She said this is her favorite place so she must be here for a while now. Alright sounds like a plan, and absolutely don’t mention the girl on girl actio.. ugh no Max! Don’t call it like that!_

_Alright. Focus! Ask Kate! Naow!_

Putting her phone back into her pocket, the freckled girl came out of her thoughts.

“So uhm, you are here for a while now, I guess? At Blackwell I mean.”

“Yes, I arrived 5 days ago, so I’m not here much longer than you. My Dad wanted me to get used to this place a bit before the semester starts.” Answered the blonde girl next to her on the bench.

“Ohh, that’s nice of your Dad.” Replied Max and continued after a short moment, “Sounds like you had a bit time to get to know the other peeps here?”

_Smooth Max strikes again._

Kate turned her head to face Max, “Enough to know who I have to avoid and who not.” The features of her face turned into a gleeful expression, “Let me guess, you are curious about a certain blonde person with a blue feather earring?”

_WHAT? Has everyone here fucking mind reading powers, or what shit is going on right now?_

“Y..Yeah. How do you know?” Stuttered the surprised brunette unsure.

The clearly amused blonde couldn’t hold back a giggle before she explained, “She texted me and asked to not reveal anything about her to you. I’m not sure how she knows that it was me. You both were distracted when I was closing the door. So I doubt she has seen me at all.”

“This girl is a fucking misery to me. Ugh I starting to believe her mission to make my life more difficult or something.” Max let out a small sight, “So I guess u won’t tell me her room number?”

“I’m sorry.” Answered the long haired blonde with apologetic eyes, but clearly having her own joy with the situation.

_Figures. Seriously, what’s up with that Ember girl? I don’t get why she is doing all this. Just for fun? Wait did Kate say she closed the door? So she saw us. Shit. But she doesn’t make the impression to spread bullshit so easily. And I don’t think that sweet and innocent smile is there to trap peeps._

Max eyes widened after the current realization, “It was YOU who closed the Door to my room!”

“Yes. I heard a bang and a girl shrieking, so I wanted to look if everything is alright. I saw you two and before anyone could have a false impression seeing you both.. you know, I closed the door”

_Awwww. Have you fallen in a pot of sugar or why are you so sweet? Okay I definitely keep her. I don’t care what you say mom, I’m 18 in a few weeks so I can do whatever I want anyway. Boo-ya. I will take good care of her, promise! She and Lisa will get along great!_

“That’s so sweet of you, thank you!” said the grateful Photographer, “I was badshit worried someone has seen us and would spread rumors, or make fun of me. I totally don’t need crap like that on my first day.”

“You’re welcome, Max. I know myself how people can be sometimes. Like Victoria and her folks. I don’t know what their problem is, I never have done anything to them.” explained Kate, looking a bit sad all of the sudden. “S..Sorry.. I shouldn’t talk bad about other people, that’s not nice.”

_Damn. Do something Max. Don’t let her be so sad._

“It’s alright, Kate. In fact I have to thank you. Watch out for Victoria plus minions. Thanks for the warning. And if you need to bitch about something, my door is always open.” The brunette put her hand on the sad blondes shoulder and squeezed it softly to comfort her.

The mild gesture showed its effect immediately with a smile on the sweet girl next to Max, “That’s nice of you. Same goes for you of course.”

_There we go Max. One more new friend and free food on day one! You’re going to crack the highscore in no time if you go on like that! Maybe I’m not a total loser anymore._

The sun slowly began to settle down for the day, turning the colors of the sky in a beautiful mix of blue and orange. Despite the sun still spending comfortable warms, the area has emptied and got very quiet compared to earlier. Recovered from the pause, the photographer student decided that she should resume to the work she still had finish.

“Alright, that’s enough of a timeout for me. I should head back to my room. The ground zero state is still waiting to be fixed.” Said Max as she stood up and pulled the blonde a bit unsure in a quick hug. “Was nice to chat with you, Kate!”

“It was! See you later, Max.” She replied and returned the comforting embrace.

On her walk to the dorm entrance, the corner of freckled brunettes eyes caught a fast movement on the ground. A squirrel crossed her path and made its way to the bushes next to the building. It’s attention on a nut, which were lying right before the bushes, Max decided to take the sudden opportunity for a photo.

_Hey there little guy. Do you mind if I take a quick shot? I promise it won’t hurt._

Taking her faithful instant camera out of her bag, she aimed at the tiny animal on the ground, waited a few seconds to adjust and catch the right moment, before she finally pushed the trigger and took her first photo at Blackwell Academy.

_See? Over already. Now you can resume to your daily squirrely routine. Flee you fool!_

Audible spooling sounds were coming out from the instant camera. Satisfied, the freckled photographer took the fresh developed picture, shook it out of a habit a few times and let both vanish into the depth of her messenger bag.

“Omg, did you see that.” Could Max hear a familiar female voice saying, not far away near the dorm entrance.

“Totes. What was that, a rusty Polaroid camera?” another female voice replied.

“How lame and old school. I bet her parents are too poor to buy her a real camera.” Stated the first voice.

_Fuck, not again. I had enough of this bullcrap back in Seattle. I never understood what’s the fucking problem is. I like to take pics with my Polaroid, so what?_

_..Whatever just ignore it, as always. You can’t do anything about it anyway. I better go back to my save hideout now. Let’s just hope they don’t stop me. Ignore them and walk past, Max._

Trying her luck, Max set herself in motion towards the destined door. As feared the two girls stepped in front of her and blocking her way to the dorms. The one of them was taller than Max, short blonde hair with a pixie haircut and wearing expensive looking clothes. The other girl had black, shoulder long hair, her expression towards Max everything else than nice and welcoming.

_Fucking shit. Okay Max, try it with the friendly way, maybe it works._

“Excuse me, can you please let me through? I want to go inside.” tried Max to convince the girls in front of her.

“Better excuse yourself for using with such an old relic for taking photos.” Snorted the one blonde girl, “You are not going to impress anyone if you use such garbage, right Courtney?”

“Absolutely, V.” Agreed the girl with the dark shoulder long hair with a snicker.

_V? This must be Victoria then? Shit, Kate warned me about her._

The shy brunette holding her right elbow with her left hand, eyes looking at the ground as she tried to respond, “I uhh, I don’t..”

But before Max could finish her sentence, the pixie cut girl continued her speech, “And seriously what’s with your clothes? Can’t your parents afford something with a glimpse of style? Or are you trying to be a hipster at all costs?”

_“Try to be friendly, maybe it works.” Shittiest idea ever. Fuck Max, you are so dumb. When has that ever worked? You should have stuck to your cookie plan. Waaay better. The only problem with that is, still no cookies._

_I don’t think that would have worked with that bitch anyway. Besides, what’s her fucking problem? Why is she nagging on everything about me? All I did was taking a picture of a squirrel. Asshole._

_But maybe she is right. I’m not going to impress anyone with such shots. And my Polaroid is indeed old and outdated. Even though I love taking pictures with it, maybe it’s time to get modern, also for the sake of my scholarship. I can’t waste this chance._

A snap in front of Max’s eyes brought the spaced out photographer back to reality. Facing the two girls in front, she could see that they were eying her with crossed arms and an annoyed expression on their faces.

Without any time to let the brunette adapt to the situation, the impatient blonde continued, “Are you even listening? God you’re such a weirdo. I don’t know why I wasting my precious time with you at all. Come Courtney, we have more important things to do.”

_Yeah, go away and leave me alone bitch. I don’t need your bullshit._

With a final despised glance to the shy freckled brunette, the two girls finally walk away and clearing the way to the dormitories. Taking the chance, Max walked to the entrance as fast as she can, to seek the safety of her room.

_Ugh, now I need a timeout from the timeout…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, another chapter :D
> 
> Well, I haven’t released the first one when I finished this chapter but hey, who cares right?  
> So introductions of Kate and Victoria here. I don’t know how present they will be in the future, because as I said before, I have no real plan where to go with that fanfic. Okay that’s not exactly true, I know what I want to achieve but I don’t know how :D if that makes sense. haha
> 
> Anyway, I had a real hard time to start the conversation with Kate and let it go in a believable way. At least I hope I achieved that :D  
> Same goes for Vic. I wasn’t sure how mean I should make her towards Max, because she stated in game that she thinks Max is cool. So I pondered with the idea to let her try to be friends with Max, but that wouldn’t have fit at that scene.. so mean Vicky from the start for ya :P sorry Max x3 
> 
> I know I have some problems with describing sceneries and things, and I try to work on it, promise :D
> 
> Of course I have to thank my dear friends who help me a lot with all that. StevoCPP for beta reading and giving me suggestion of some things x3
> 
> Also thanks again to you all for reading <3 constructive criticism is always welcome :D
> 
> NO EMOJI
> 
> PS: Okay i have no idea why it posts the notes from the first chapter under this one too. If someone knows, please help!!


	3. Adventure time

Feeling down from the earlier confrontation, the brunette walked directly to her room without paying attention to anything or anyone. She arrived at her door, quickly opened it, rushed into her room and closed the door clearly audible, before someone could stop to enter her save zone last second. Leaning with her back lightly on the closed door behind her, Max closed her eyes and took the moment to exhale the breath she was holding the whole time.

_Phew, save._

Clearly relaxed now the brunette opened her eyes and decided to ignore the prevail chaos right in front of her sight.

_Groan! I so don’t care about that right now._

She slid off her messenger bag, dropped it softly on the floor and let herself fell into the bed, facedown onto her pillow.

_There you have it Max. I hoped the drama would end once I am here, but nope same old drama shit. But this was an entirely new level of bitchtalking. Giving me shit for taking a pic, my clothes and even attacked my parents? For cereal?_

_Ugh and now I know why Kate warned me about her. I don’t want to know what they had done the poor girl. Fucking Victoria and her minions must have huge problems to pick on such a nice person. I wish I could help her, but I can’t even help myself. You, just stood there and let them pick on you.. as always._

The lying girl turned herself around, grabbed a pillow and pressed it softly at her belly while staring at the ceiling above her for a while.

_Anyway, I still need to figure out which room the Ember girl has. I have no clue how to do that. I can’t knock on every door and apologize every time I hit the wrong one. Well, I could, if I had cookies. Naaah, even then, it would be embarrassing as hell and after that beatdown earlier, I can’t make a fool of myself to everyone. Not to mention that I am too shy to do that anyway. Also there’s a chance that I ran into that blonde ass again, so nope, need a better plan._

While still lying there on her bed, with the sinking sun outside illuminating the room in beautiful colors, an audible snarl was coming from her stomach hidden under the pillow on it.

_Man I’m starving hard. I didn’t realize how hungry I am with all the events and shit today. The last time I noshed was when we stopped at the Gas station this morning. Speaking of my Parents, they must be back home by now. I better check on them._

Too lazy to put much effort in getting her smartphone, the freckled girl reached with one arm next to her bed, where she left her bag on the floor and tried to fumble the mobile out of it somehow. After a few tries, she finally managed to open the bag.

_Ah-hah. You don’t know who are you dealing with, my dear bag. You know sooner or later I get out of you what I want! So don’t even try to fight against your certain defeat!_

_Now let’s see. Ohh, Mom texted me already._

**Mom:** Hey sweety. I just wanted to let you know that we arrived safely at home. I can’t believe you that you grown up already and now living all by yourself.

**Mom:** Don’t forget to eat and drink enough. And wash your clothes regularly, before you run out of fresh ones. Also remind to water your plant, but don’t drown it either. Be careful with your money, and don’t hesitate to buy things from the credit card we gave you, if you need something important. You always can call us if anything happens. You are always welcome if you want to come back home. I will miss you sweety.

**Mom:** xoxo

_Eye-roll. Really mom?_ _Exaggerate much.. but its sweet from her, she just worry about you Max. Be a good daughter and text back._

**Max:** Alright mom. I’ll let you know if anything is up. I’ll call later. Love ya. xoxomaxo

Another growl escaped the hungry brunettes belly a few seconds after she pressed the sent button.

“Alright, alright. I know I’m hungry, you can stop with that. Let’s see how long I have to survive.” Says the hungry girl to her rumbling stomach.

Still glancing at her phone, Max noticed that it is already 5:38 pm.

_Sorry to tell you, oh belly of mine, I’m afraid you still have more than an hour to wait. But don’t despair yet, I know you are strong and the maid with the golden hair will serve you delicious food when the appointed time arrives. Hopefully delicious.._

_I can use that time well by cleaning the mess, to keep me busy. It was the original plan from begin with anyway. So it’s settled, work now, food dat.. uhh.. reward later!_

The young Photographer tossed the pillow aside, rose up from her comfortable sleeping area just to walk to her laptop at the desk. She opened her music library and started to play “Eye of the tiger” from Survivor.

“Now it’s either you or me, Room! Bring it on!”

 

* * *

 

Clothes vanished into the closet at the corner next to the door. One book after another, which were lying stacked at the floor, found their way into the shelf in no particular order. Her guitar, which she played occasionally, rested on the couch at the opposite side of the bed. All that’s left are the now empty boxes, stocked up next to her plant Lisa.

_Take that room! In the end you have to obey me after all. Resistance was pointless from begin with!_

_It was a shitload of work tho, and I’m starving like hell now. No wonder, took me about an hour. Good thing it’s almost feeding time now. I better go on my quest to find that secret hideout._

_But first.._

The young photographer reached once again into her bag, took her favorite picture device out of it and positioned herself with the back to her photo wall to take a selfie. She did general shake of the freshly taken polaroid, took a quick look at the not yet developed picture before it vanished into her bag along with the camera.

_Good. Adventure time now! Find the hidden Ember chamber.. somehow. I still have no clue how to do it. My best bet is to activate my nosy superpower, I guess. Let’s just hope I don’t run into the pixie ass again. Remember Max, The world outside is a dangerous one, you have to be brave and fearless._

Not going without her faithful messenger bag as sidekick, the freckled brunette with a mission opened the door to the hallway, stepped outside and waited for the click behind her which told that the entrance to her domain is closed.

_Good, no soul around here. I just hear.. is that a violin? Where is it coming from? It sounds beautiful._

A few steps later, the curious girl was right in front of the door, where the source of the sounds is coming from.

_This is where it’s coming from. Room 222.. I have no idea who has that number. In fact I don’t know the number of anyone besides me. And the slate is empty too. So no luck here Max. Maybe I can ask the master of the food later, if I ever find her room that is. Hey I could try to find hints on all the other boards. There are may things written on it which help me. Investigation time!_

The amateur detective started to snoop around in the hall, going from room to room, pressed her ear at the doors to try to hear a voices from within and searched for any hints at the slates next to each room. Without any luck.

_I can’t work like that. You have to gimme something at least, you all. Your secrets are safe with me, promise! Shit, I wander here for 10 minutes or so and still have no clue at all. It’s a miracle that I didn’t bumped in anyone by now. Why has she make it so difficult for me?_

_..Think positive Max, complaining don’t get you anywhere. You still have 2 doors left, so you still have a chance. Go and finish the job!_

As Max snooped around for a bit more, she noticed a pin board near the girls dorm entrance. The board was full of flyers about random stuff about the school, including anti-bullying statements, a flyer for a group called “Vortex Club” and…

_A map of the dorms here? I totally missed this. I stormed straight to my room earlier and also when I arrived.. hoping to avoid awkward moments and folks. I’m too damn shy after all._

_No Max, now is not the time for self-pity! Focus on your mission and take a look at the board of wisdom before you._

_YES, there are names of all the peeps, plus their room number! Score! That makes things a looot easier._

_Hmm.. “Max Caulfield.” Atta Blackwell, didn’t use my full name. I wonder.. yes that’s how the Ember girl must have known my name already. It makes sense. Gotcha girl, you didn’t think I find out? You underestimated me there! HAH-HAA!_

_Well.. anyway, I’m curious who played so beautifully on the violin earlier. Number 222 was it. Ohh, it was Kate? For reals? How adorable! Good thing I kept her, hehe. I don’t understand how anyone could give you shit for anything tho.. according to what she told me earlier, that short blondie must have mocked her for some dumb reason. Bitch._

_Speaking of.._

_Urrrrgh no.. are you cereal? Victoria lives right at the opposite of my room? Oh shit, wait! That means it was her who saw me at that.. accident. Max, that is not good in any universe. I bet a thousand cookies that she will use it to spread bullshit about me or something. FUCK!_

_But that are problems for later. Currently I need to find the food girl before my stomach lures everybody out of their rooms with its complains._

_Soo, Ember.. Ember.. Hmm, Brooke Scott. No, never heard. Juliet Watson. Nope don’t know who that is either. Rachel.. Amber. OHHH it is “Amber” and not “Ember”! “The new Amber in your life”, haha I get it.. well it’s kinda obvious now, Max. Good thing I know her first name too, so I can change that on my phone later._

_Oh fuck right. The name appeared on my screen earlier. That means she must have typed her number into my phone. But how? When? I swear that girl must have some serious magical abilities._

_Should I ask her about that? Even if I’m not too chicken for this and ask her, I doubt she’ll ever tell me her dark sorcery in the first place. Either way, I have to find her first. So let’s see, her hidden lair is right…_

_…wait, what’s that light?_

When Max turned around, she found a grinning Rachel, with crossed arms and leaning at her doorframe, eyes pointed at the girl next to the pin board. Her outfit, which consists of the blue feather pendant, a long sleeve T-shirt concluded with blue jeans trousers and pink socks, accented her proportions perfectly. More so with the light coming from her room, shining at her from behind.

_Damn she is so beautiful. There is no fucking way in hell that someone like her has the slightest intere.. Gaawd Max, not again. What the fuck is wrong with you? Get your shit together._

“Finally noticed me, huh? I was about to say something, but you are just too cute when you are in the pretty little head of yours.” Began the amused blonde at the door to speak.

_“Finally”? How long is she standing there already? And why is she calling me cute again? I mean, look at me.._

“However, sounds of your stomach is crying badly for some food.” Continued Rachel.

“Uhh, um.. yeah. My last meal was ages ago. I could literally eat anything at this point!” Replied the hungry brunette.

“Uhlala!” Grinned Rachel with a teasing voice. “I knew it was a good idea to invite ya. This will be fun!”

_Huh? What does she mea.. OOHHHH SHIT. NO. I didn’t mean it like that at all. Damn. I can’t let my guard down in front of her for one second! Do something, Max, fast!_

“NO. Uhh.. I mean, I didn’t want to say tha..” started Max to say while she turned bright red in her face, before she realized the amused grin on Rachels face and interrupted herself. “Ugh, you are just fuc..

No absolutely do NOT use that word, Max!

..t-teasing me, right?”

_Phew, that was too close! Try to think before you speak next time!_

“Hmm, maybe, maybe not.” twinkled the blonde, “Now come on in, I don’t want ya starving to death outta here.”

_You know, that’s the last chance to panicky run back to your room, Max. But, mhhh.. food waits inside of that dangerous cave. Damn you, survival instincts. I give up, you win belly. Just so you know, if something bad happens, I blame you and only you._

A bit unsure, the freckled photographer followed the other girl in her room and closed the door behind her.

_Point of no return, Max._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, first I have to say, the chapter was planned originally longer, but to not make the gap between the updates too long and me not being able to write much because of some RL shit and too many freaking story updates this week, I decided to split this chapter in half. :D so sorry if it’s a bit shorter. I don’t know how long the next will be, yet x3
> 
> I already have written a bit of the things that happen in Rachels room. And I must say, I struggle to write the conversation. I know some of the stuff that will happen there, I just don’t know how to make it going smooth and believable :D
> 
> Anyway, I hope the chapter wasn’t too boring, I know not much happened besides of Max process things and finding Rachels room.
> 
> In general I think that not much happens in my story plus it’s going pretty slow haha :D (3rd chapter and it’s still day 1). But I also don’t want to have too long timeskips, I just wouldn’t feel comfortable with it and what I hope to achieve with this story :D
> 
> Let me know what you think pls x3 I’ll see you next chapter :D
> 
> NO EMOJI


	4. Food date

Max resting at the exact same spot after she closed the door and she took the moment to scan the freshly entered room with her eyes.

The order furniture was similar to Max’s own room. The Bed to the right of the door, a sofa with some pillows on the left, a small wooden table right before it. At the end of the room stands a desk with some magazines on it. In the left corner at the back were standing the closet with a mirror right next to it. The walls were covered with some posters of metal and rock bands.

_It looks nice here. Like a very good chill out zone. Hm, I don’t think I know any of the bands at the poster. Most of them look like punk rock bands, maybe? So she’s more a rock out girl? Heh, suits her perfectly. But hasn’t she said earlier her room is more ground zero than mine? My ass it is! Everything is in tidy and clean._

“You totally lied to me.” Said the freckled visitor matter of factly.

“Hm? What do you mean?” asked Rachel a bit confused.

“You said you room is a mess, but it’s all tidy!” Stated the surprised brunette.

“Oh, that’s what ya mean. Yep you got me there. I always clean my room for my first date. Need to impress ma girl, right?” A soft giggle escaped her lips.

_Wait WHAT? THIS IS REALLY A DATE?_

The girl with the feather earring stepped close before Max, caging her between both arms on the door and looking directly into the eyes of the photo nerd in front of her.

_TIMEOUT! WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?_

They stared into each other eyes for a bit longer, until the long haired blonde leaned in, bringing her lips near to the shocked girls left ear and whispered in a low voice. “Do ya want me to give you something to nosh on now?”

_SHIT, MY HEART IS RACING LIKE CRAZY! IS SHE GOING TO..? WHAT IF? WHAT DO I DO NOW? DON’T FAIL ON ME, BRAIN!_

After moving her head back to the previous position, she fixed her gaze again at Max’s eyes.

Not be able to think of anything anymore in the current situation, the caged brunette was only able to answer the previous question with a slow nod. She just stood there with her lips slightly apart, while her heart is beating faster and faster and she waiting for the hazel eyed blonde to make the next move.

Still staring into the brunettes eyes, Rachel hold the gaze for a moment longer before her mouth formed a grin and suddenly took a step back which released the still shocked girl from her prison.

“Good. Your munch is on the table there. Feel free to make yourself comfy and nosh away.” With that she walked to her bed, sat on it crossed legged and grabbed her own lunchbox from the bed stand.

_..Munch? What? Uh? What the fuck happened? The one moment she was.. and then she said.. and.. and.. huh?_

As Rachel realized that the freckled girl still was standing at the door, she couldn’t help but to giggle before she clarified, “Don’t be so shocked Max, I wasn’t serious with the date thingy. Truth is, I just didn’t want you to feel bad about the chaos in your room. That’s all there is to it.”

_THEN WHY THE FUU DO YOU PULL SOMETHING LIKE THAT? I swear, this girl is giving me a heart attack. Playing with me like that. Shit, I don’t know how to take her at all._

_Okay Max, slow down, deep breath, clear your head and focus. She said she didn’t want me to feel bad for the mess in my room. That’s actually pretty cute, isn’t it? I don’t think she will be a pain in the ass to me. She just don’t give me that wipe._

_..Do I think while I let her lure me into her domain, just with food.. and pulled of.. whatever that was a few moments ago. Is she doing this for fun? Is this just how she is? Or does she have a motive for all that? Ugh, I just.. just don’t know. That’s what I warned my belly about.. your hear me? It’s all your fault!_

_Which reminds me that I still starving like crazy. I better eat something while I still have the chance.. you never know what she’s up to next. Besides, I still want some answers from her. Almost forgot that now._

With a clearer head and finally able to move again, she walked to the couch placed her bag next to it and let drop herself into the cozily furniture before she grabbed the food box from the table and opened it to smell the content inside of it.

_Wowser, that smells amazing, you agree my belly? I would have expected something like Belgian Waffles or Pancakes, but nope, it’s just good Chinese noodle thingy. Won’t complain at all, the important thing is that it’s food, and that it will be sacrificed for a greater good. I hope it tastes as yummy as it smells. Here it goes! Noshing Time!_

Max took a good load of the still warm noodles and eagerly shoved them into her mouth.

_Mhh, like heaven! Exactly what I need now, good food which fills the black hole in my stomach. You like it too, don’t you belly? Thought so. Guess this makes it all worth it. Well.. most of it. Guess that’s +1 point for you miss Amber._

_Oh shit! I sit here and choke that stuff down without paying attention to her at all! And earlier I prolly must have looked like an idiot, standing at the door for ages, spaced out ..again._

_..She’s pretty silent tho. Nice, I probably have upset her with my attitude. Better try to take a quick glance to see how bad you fucked up, Max._

Max raised her head to take a peek, only to find the other girl looking at her with a thoughtful yet relaxed expression on her face.

_Huh? Why is she looking at me like that? God, her eyes are beautiful. Like everyth.. Nonono, don’t start this again. And quit staring back at her. Your talent to make yourself look like a fool is no joke, do you know that? Now be a good guest and apologize for ignoring her!_

“Sowwy.”

_Goddamn, choke down your food before you speak, Caulfield! And again, STOP staring already!_

“Sorry.” Tried Max again, after swallowing her meal down and turned her sight embarrassed to the ground.

“Sorry for what?” asked Rachel with a soft voice.

“For going wild on my meal and not paying attention to you.” Explained the ashamed brunette, her voice quiet and low.

“Don’t sweat it, Max. There’s nothing wrong with munching in silence. I just feel pity for the poor food. It has no chance at all.” Joked the long haired blonde, “I hope this excuses my attack you this noon. We cool?”

_She really don’t give much of a fuck about stupid stuff, huh? And she seems to be sincerely sorry for that ..accident earlier that day too. I think I can chillax a bit more and not worry about making myself look bad. Hopefully.._

Raising her head again to look at the other girl in the room, the brunette replied more relaxed and a theatrical gesture, “I swear by the name of the almighty Hawt Dawg  Man, I forgive you all your sins.”

_Oh god.. for cereal Max?_

“HAHA. I never believed it, but you really are a big dorkball!” stated Rachel with a loud laugh and took another bite out of her lunchbox.

_Huh?_

“What do yo..” tried the confused brunette to ask, but got interrupted by a sudden knock on the door.

“Rachel, you there?” wanted a female voice on the other side want to know.

_More visitors? Please no._

“Yeah. One moment.” Answered Rachel, put her food box back on her nightstand and walked to the door.

As the blonde opened the door, Max could see a fashionable clothed girl standing right in front of Rachel. She was wearing a normal white top paired with a blue jeans jacket and a matching wrecked blue jeans to it.  Her brown hair was bound to a ponytail at the back of her head, the ears were embellished with little silver earrings and around her neck was hanging an unobtrusive, but not less fitting silver necklace, which rounded her appearance perfectly.

_Wowser. That’s some neat looking outfit. Never go the competition part with her, Max. Your hoodie and jeans are no match for that!_

“Woah. Ya looking hardcore rad, Dana! What’s the matter? You going on a date?” cheered the enthusiastic blonde as she inspected the other girl.

“Heh, why? Would you be jealous, girl?” teased the brunette with the pony tail and a kinky grin on her face.

“Hah, ya wish!” shot Rachel back. “I have my own hot date right here.”

_STOP CALLING THIS A DATE! Wait.. did she said hot?_

Rachel took a step back to let have Dana a better look into her room and pointed at the shy visitor in her room.

_Nononono don’t turn the attention on me now. I did so good to avoid it. All my hard work for nothing! Damn you, blonde devil!_

“Uhh, mmh. Hi, I’m Max.” Was all what the freckled girl was able to bring out paired with a weak wave of her free hand and her gaze looking at Dana for a second, just to shyly look away again.

_Just focus on your noodles, as awkward as it may is._

“Max? Like the one you messaged me not to tell anything about you, Rachel?” asked Dana with a surprised tone in her voice and pointed her gaze at the long haired blonde.

_What the fuck? She texted her too? Like Kate?_

“Yup, that’s her” she answered with a sly grin. “Anyway, you aren’t here just to show me your hot as fuck outfit I guess?”

“Got me. I wanted to give you quickly your magazines back.” Said the ponytail brunette and handed them over.

“Alrighty. Found anything ya like in them?” wanted Rachel know and took the magazines from the other girl.

“Sure! In fact, the outfit you see was inspired by some stuff I saw in there!” she answered, and continued after a short pause, “I would love to chitty chat a bit more, but I don’t want to interrupt your date night any longer.”

_NO! Fuck, now you have given her the wrong idea! This isn’t a date! ..Or is it?_

“Aww. You gladly can hang out with us if ya want. That’s no problem.” She offered with a slightly disappointed voice.

Dana took a quick glance at Max before she responded, “Nah sorry, no time. I have a bit study to do for tomorrow. We’ll do it another time, kay?”

“I nail you on it! Have fun hitting the knowledge into your brain.” She pulled the brunette into a quick hug.

“Thanks, I sure won’t have it.” Replied Dana and returned the hug. “Oh and Max, I know how Rachel can be, so if she misbehaves in any way, just scream. I’m right next door!”

_FUCK YES! SHE’S AN ALLY!_

“Hey!” Rachel stated and nudged the ponytail girl at the shoulder.

“Alright, was nice to meet you Max.” Dana snickered before she finally returned to her room.

“Talk to you later!” the blonde closed the door, walked around the table, tossed the magazines on it and sat down right next to Max on the couch.

_Fashion magazines. Makes sense. Seems like she and Rachel are into this. It’s nothing for me tho. I only peeked in some once or twice. And I’m comfortable with my outfit anyway, so no thank you._

_Aww damn, all the noodle thingies are already gone. Well, hope you are satisfied now ma belly._

“So tell me, how was your first day at Blackwell so far? Made some girls fall over you already?” she was looking at Max with her trademark smiley expression, sitting half crossed legged with one leg hanging down the couch, her body directed at the shy visitor.

_Yeah of course. You noticed that I’m shy, right? And what’s with you and girls? There’s a very high possibility that I’m into boys, you know? Or do I give that vibe? I admit, Dana looked pretty hot, but I can say that without liking girls that way, right?_

_Ugh, don’t space out again, answer the question!_

“Uhm, it was a pretty boring day. Mostly cleaned my room and later I gone outside, took a photo and.. uhh..”

_..walked it queen bitch._

“And?” wanted Rachel know as she saw that the expression of the photographer got sadder.

“N-nothing.” She replied and put the empty food box on the table to avoid eye contact.

“Hey, common Maxi. Please tell me if there’s something wrong.” Pressed the blonde more with a bit of concern in her voice.

_Should I tell her? She seems to be sincerely worried. Damn._

A bit unsure Max began to speak hesitantly, “Uhm, you know Victoria, right?”

“Sure. What’s with pixie cherry?”

“I don't know, she bitched about basically everything about me. I only took a photo. No idea what her problem is.”

“Aww, poor Maxi.” the blonde threw her arms around Max and pulled her into a comforting hug.

_Woah, okay. Surprise hug attack._

The hug lasted a few moments before Rachel released the brunette and put her hands onto Max shoulders, her eyes fixated at the other pair. “I'm sorry that Vicky gave you a hard time. She can be a bit of a bitch sometimes. Don't take it too much to heart, okay?”

_Sounds like she has a good side too? I very much doubt that._

_..No Max, don’t be all judgemental. You only know Victoria for five minutes. Maybe there’s a chance.._

“So you don’t think she will spread any bullshit about us?” came out of Max mouth without thinking much about it.

A surprised Rachel gave the worried brunette a curious look. “About us? Why?”

_She didn’t care about this at all? Shouldn’t surprise me by now._

“Well.” Started Max trying to find the right word, “I guess she saw us earlier that day. You know, when you knocked on my door and..” not finishing the sentence she looked away from hazel eyed girl and blushed a bit.

It took a few seconds for the blonde to connect the dots, before she concluded amusingly. ”Oh you mean the girl on girl action.” The blunt statement made Max even redder.

_Oh god. Don’t say it so directly._

“Nah, I don’t worry about that. I also don’t think Vicky will tell anyone. And even if, I don’t care. And you shouldn’t either, okay?” her tone and expression changed to a more serious one.

_It isn’t as simple as you think. I am new here, remember? I don’t need any rumors about me from day one._

“Easier said than done.” Mumbled Max quietly, looking at the ground again to avoid the hazel eyes in front of her.

The blonde released Max shoulders from her grip, just to hold the other pair of hands. The feeling of slowly caressing motions made Max heart pound a few beats faster.

_A Touchy person you are, huh?_

Rachel let out a small sight. “Look Max.” She began, “Why should ya care about someone who blindly believes rumors which someone else spread? Isn’t it more important what you think of yourself?”

“I.. I don’t know. I guess?” the freckled girl answered in a low tone. “Obviously I’m not as self-confident as you.”

Rachel squeezed the other hands softly. “But you have no reason not to be. Do you remember when you told me about how you choose the photos you take?”

“Uhh.. I do. Why?” she asked with a questioning look.

“Then you also remember what I said back then to you too?”

_Hm, lemme think. She said something like I sounded full of myself and I was passionate and without a doubt about myself. And I think she was serious about it._

With a tiny smile on her lips, the freckled photographer answered, “Yes, I do.”

Answering the smile with her own, Rachel replied. “Good. Because you have no reason to be unsecure like right now at all. You’re Smart, kind and fun to hang out with. Everyone else who think otherwise can fuck off.”

_How can she has such an opinion about me in that short amount of time? She doesn’t really know me._

“You really think that?” asked Max quiet and disbelievingly, turning her gaze to the sitting girl next to her.

“Heck yas I do! Why else do you think I would steal your phone number?” blurted Rachel out.

_What? Steal my number? Fuck right, I sooo forgot about this. Now is the chance to ask her how she got it. You can’t chicken out of this after what she said!_

“Uhm, speaking of.. How did you get my number in the first place?” asked the brunette cautiously.

The question let the hazel eyed girl escape a chuckle. “Well, your phone were lying on the ground and ya haven’t locked it with some super secret code or something.” She released Max hands and took her index finger to poke the brunette softly at her forehead, “Plus ya gave me plenty of time when you were in the sweet little head of yours.”

“What..”

_..the fuck? No! No way! ..I mean, my phone could have fallen out of my pocket easily when she tackled me and I’m thinking a lot, that’s true. But not in a thousand years I zone out for that long and don’t notice anything around me!_

_Otherwise it would explain why I found my phone on my bed later. I can’t remember putting it there. And since I don’t know anyone here, she couldn’t have my number from someone else. So it would make sense.. somehow. Shit. Seems like she is right, my mind journey is too damn long sometimes. I must look like a real weirdo when I do that. Just like no.._

“Aaaand smile!” interrupted Rachel the train of thoughts from Max and pressed her own cheek against the one of the other girls.

_Huh? What is she doing? My Camera? Fuck she’s about to take a pic from us. SMILE! FAST!_

Max was barely able to form a proper smile, before the flash appeared from the old Polaroid camera.

_Phew, that was too damn close! And what the hell? My camera was in my bag which lies right behind me and I didn’t the fuck notice how she has gone all the way around to take it? Fuck, I guess that proves her right. Note to myself: Don’t escape to lalala-land for too long!_

“Okay, point taken. Less adventures in brain land for me, starting now.” sighted the blue eyed girl.

“Aww no, don’t say that. I like that and you look actually pretty cute when you do it.”  She said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

_Cute? Yeah Right.. More like you want to put up more shenanigans, but not with me! Ninja Max will be prepared next time!_

“Anyway, I’m afraid I have to ask you to leave now.” Rachel said with an apologetic expression. “It was a pretty long day for me and on top of that it’s a school day tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah, of course. I probably should check out which classrooms I have to go tomorrow and call it a day too.” The freckled girl responded and looked at her phone to check the time.

The blondes face lit up and asked excited immediately, “Ohh, I have an idea! I take you around the school tomorrow morning and show you everything.  Classes start at 10, so let’s say at 9 at the Main building? Sounds good? Come on Max, say yes!” her gaze is full of expectant and fixated on the brunettes eyes.

_Woah, slow down and let me at least think about it for a second! There’s a chance that she will pull something again, but otherwise we are in public, so I don’t think she will. Plus if I run into icky Vicky I have my own personal bodyguard. And.._

_..Ugh don’t stare at me like that! I don’t have a choice anyway when you look at me like that. You are still weak, Max!_

 “Alright, main building at 9, okay.” Max simply agreed.

“Wooyaa, this will be fun!” The carefree girl jumped of the sofa to get her mobile phone and taped something in it.

_Fun? Sounds like she’s not just showing me the school. Prepare for everything, Max. But that again are problems for future Max. she handled it pretty well last time! Current Max needs to catch some sleep for now._

The photo nerd stood up, took her camera and the developed photo, put both back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

“Alrighty, then I’ll see you tomorrow, Max.” Rachel said and opened the freckled brunette the door.

“Yes, see you tomorrow.” Responded Max. “Oh, and thanks again for the food.”

“Always at service for a maid in need.” Rachel replied and did a little bow.

“And you say I am a giant dorkball.” Chuckled Max.

“Shush you.” Rachel adjusted her posture and pulled Max in a quick hug. “G’nighty.”

“Good night, Rachel.” Max replied before the other girl released her from the embrace and closed the door.

After being back at her own room, she leaned against the closed entrance and grabbed the picture out of her bag, which Rachel took earlier. While she looked at it, her lips formed a tiny smile.

_All in all, it wasn’t bad, was it?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG THIS STORY ISN’T ABANDONED WUUUUUT?
> 
> Haha sorry to you all, I know it’s over a month since the last chapter. My excuse is real life and other things :P And I’m afraid I’m not be able to update very frequently, but I try my best to continue this story for the 2 or 3 readers I still have x3
> 
> Due to the long time since the last chapter, I wrote this one in many different steps, but I hope it reads itself fluid and not step by step.
> 
> The beginning (;D) I already had written by the time I released the previous chapter, and the thing with Dana was another idea I wanted to put in, everything else was more or improvised and trying to connect it in a logical way :D 
> 
> And with that, day 1 is finally over and I have to think about what happens on day 2 :D 
> 
> Let me know what you think, pls x3
> 
> NO EMOJI


	5. The universe

_Camera.. Check!_

_Daily school survival items.. Check!_

_Fully charged messaging and social media spy device, with which I surprisingly also can do phone calls.. Check!_

_Awesome, seems like I’m ready to tackle my first day of war at Blackwell. Just don’t be a chicken and hide in every corner you see to avoid humanity. Remember the plan! Being less shy, settle in, and hopefully making some friends._

_At least in that regard I’m on the right track already! With Kate and Rachel I actually made some progress, and Dana also seems to be nice too. After all she offered to rescue me from evil Amber attacks. Which I sooo not have made use of.. yet. Who knows what she pulls today._

_I better get my ass in gear and not let her wait._

As she took a last glance around the room, her eyes made contact with her stuffed bear, which rests on her bed.

“You hold the ground and take care of everything while I’m away, Captain. And keep Lisa in check, we both know she likes to pull some shenanigans when no one is watching.” Ordered the brunette to, swung the bag over her shoulders and left the room.

_We haven’t agreed on any time. Best thing is go and see if she’s in her dorm room first._

Max walked across the hall, stopped right before Rachels room and took a deep breath in and out.

_Ready or not, here I come!_

She knocked on the door and waited a few seconds.

_Hmm no answer. Seems like she has escaped already._

_..Maybe?_

_Aww too bad, the path to this hidden land is closed. No chance to do some detective work this time, Max. Can’t help it, I should switch to plan C then and text her._

While the brunette searched for her phone in her pocket, she turned around and leaned against Rachels door.

_Gotcha. Now let’s see. Oh I missed a message from pops._

**Dad:** Hey little one. Your mom and I wish you good luck on your first day. Have a great time. Call us if you need anything.

_Heh, I bet Mom wanted him to text me instead of herself. He was pretty chill when they drove me here, unlike mom. She went all “Iwillmissyousomuchtakecareofyourselfcomebackwheneveryouwant”. You’re clingy, mom, but I love you._

**Max:** Thanks Dad. I will do my best :) Call you later. xoxomaxo

_Okay, now to Rachel. Where is she.. oh I soo forgot to change her name. I should do that now._

_I still can’t believe she typed her number into my phone while I visited wonderland. I never realized I don’t freaking notice anything while I’m there. And of course she pulled this again right of the bat to proof it. Ugh. That was dangerously close on a Gollum face when she took that photo, but I made it in time. And the shot wasn’t bad at all. I really like it!_

_Anyway, you have a mission, Max. Get on track!_

**Max:** Hey Rachel. Where do we meet up? I’m standing right before your holy castle, but no maid to be found.

_Aaaaand sent. Plan C successfully initiated. Now I have to wait._

Letting out a small sight, she leaned against Rachels door, crossed her arms and let her eyes wander through the floor.

_I wonder what she is doing so early in the morning. It’s not even 9 o’clock and she already headed out and do.. whatever evil thing crossed her mind now. Seriously, what was that yesterday again? Pinning me against the door and act like.. UGH._

_Heh look at me, complaining about her and at the same time I’m leaning against her door and wait for her. Can’t help it, as much as she pulls these shenanigans and one moment, she’s totally sweet and tries to cheer me up at the other. Man, I would pay to know for what’s up in her mind._

As the freckled girl searched for nothing specific in the dorm hall, her eyes fixated on the dorm map which is pinned at the noticeboard right in front of her. 

_Hm, the girl yesterday, I think Dana was it? She said she’s right next door when I need help. Let’s see._

Max pushed herself off the door and took a few steps forward.

_Oh yeah, here it is, “Dana Ward”. It’s the room right here at the left. Thank you again, board of wisdom._

_Hmm.. her door is a tiny bit open plus no one to see on the floor. It’s like the universe wants to tell me something, and we all know that no one should ever mess with the universe! One quick peek doesn’t hurt anyone anyway, right?_

Carefully the freckled spy walked as quiet as possible to the door, opened it slightly to take a peek.

_Carefully, Max. You don’t want anyone to hea.. OH SHIT._

She quickly made a jump to the side as fast as she could.

_Shit, shit, shit. Did she see me? I hope not. What now? Emergency escape? Probably my best option!_

Fast but quiet, the brunette followed her plan and began to move in the direction of the exit.

“Max?”

_Fuck no! So Close!_

She closed her eyes and pressed the remaining air out of her lungs out of frustration before she turned around and saw Dana peeking out of her room.

“Uh, hey Dana.” She greeted in a meekly tone and looked at the ground.

“Have I made such a bad impression yesterday that you want to run from me so badly?” The taller brunette asked with a slightly hurt voice.

_What? No! Damn, Good job, Max, you have hurt her feelings._

“No, of course not! I uhh, I just.. uhm…” she was holding her right arm with her left hand, not daring to get into eye contact with the ponytail brunette in front of her. “Sorry.”

Dana chuckled. “Relax Max, I’m not serious.” and clarified as she saw the shy photographers reaction.

_Not cool! But thank god. That would have been the fastest fuck up in history for sure!_

“We haven’t had the chance to talk properly yesterday. You are new here right? How was your first day on Blackwell?” asked Dana curiously, looking at the shy girl.

“Yeah, my parents dropped me here yesterday, and uhh.. It was.. a bit more turbulent as I have imagined.” She replied, visibly more relaxed now.

“Let me guess, it has to do with a speedy blonde we both know.” Chuckled Dana and shifted her weight to the other foot. “She has a talent to make things a bit more exciting.”

_Fucking A she has! Hm, maybe she knows where Rachel is right now._

“Speaking of, have you seen her? We wanted to meet up this morning, but it looks like she’s missing in action.”

Danas face lit up a bit more before she answered. “I’m afraid I have no idea. If she’s not in there,” she pointed at Rachels dorm room with her thumb. ”she can be anywhere, I guess.”

_In other words, plan c is still on the roll._

“If you want, you can wait for her in my room.” Offered the ponytail girl with an inviting smile.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be an annoyance.” Asked the short haired brunette hesitantly.

“Don’t be silly, you won’t. Now come on!” reassured Dana and walked back into her room, leaving the door open.

_Why the fuck not. Rachel still hasn’t answered me and it’s better as to wait here outside… where everyone walking by can see me. Like Victoria. And I’m actually curious how her room looks like._

Taking a quick glance at her phone, Max followed the other girl and scanned her surroundings as soon as she entered the new environment.

_“Go Bigfoods”? That’s the football team of the school I think. And that’s a cheerleader uniform on the bed? So Dana yells and dances for success. Not bad. I can totally see that. I only yell when I lose at Mario Kart. Damn you blue shell!_

_Despite the football stuff, there are make-up and fashion thingies on the table. Yep, no surprise ‘cause ya know, yesterday. I bet she doesn’t even need these visual upgrades to look beautiful._

“You can sit down if you want, you don’t have to stand there.” Offered the cheerleader with a smile and made herself comfortable at the couch.

“Uhh, okay. S-Sorry.” Replied Max unsure, placed her faithful bag on the ground and sat down next to the other girl.

“So tell me already, Max! How did you get a date with Rachel on your first day? More importantly, how was it?” she asked clearly excited and gave Max her full attention.

 _Holy shit, what? How can she ask that all of the sudden and without any_ subtlety _? Everything was a trap all along! And I  trusted you, universe!_

“Uhm.. it was nice, but uhh.. it wasn’t really a date.” Was the only thing the freckled girl could respond to the unexpected question.

“It was not?” asked Dana with a surprised expression on her face. “That’s odd, Rachel made such a big deal out of it when I asked her about it yesterday.”

_A big deal? Why?_

“No. No it wasn’t one, sorry. She invited me to some munchies and we only ate together.” Clarified the brunette.

_Man, she really thought we had a date. Why must Rachel say something like that at all. Fucking great. More so, why assumes everyone that I’m into girls in the first place? Not there’s something wrong with it, but common. It’s not like you go to Arcadia Bay and expect everyone to be gay or something._

“Don’t be sorry, I’m the one who has to apologize.” She said embarrassed and looked down, “I shouldn’t have read too much into this in the first place.”

_Aww don’t look like that. I’m not mad or anything. Do something, Max!_

“I-it’s alright, Dana. It’s not like anything bad happened unless..” tried the shy brunette to cheer up the taller girl.

… _Man, I hope she hasn’t told anyone else about this._

“Unless?” Dana looked at max with a questioning expression.

_Just ask her. Remember, be less chicken!_

“Have you told somebody about it?” Asked Max finally, with worried eyes.

“Ohh. No. Of course I haven’t. Don’t you worry about that.” Answered Dana quickly a bit shocked.

“Phew.” Escaped the smaller girl on the couch with a deep sight of relieve.

_Thank God. I hope no one else get this idea. I mean you never know who Rachel tells about yesterday and how the person will take it.._

“Sorry, Max.” Apologized the cheerleader again.

_Aww, she really takes this to heart._

“It’s fine, Dana. Really.” Reassured the smaller girl and putting a small smile on her lips.

“No it’s not and I will make it up to you!” protested Dana determined, looking determined towards the girl next to her.

“You don’t have to.” Insisted the shy photographer.

The cheerleaders face formed a smile before she started to reply, “You’re sweet, but there’s no bailing out of this. At least let me borrow you some make-up. I noticed you don’t wear any so I guess you forgot it? Cool?”

“I didn’t..” began the brunette, but got interrupted by the message sound of her phone.

She reached for her bag at the ground and grabbed her mobile phone after a short search for it.

 **Blonde Devil:** Silly Maxie, we agreed to meet up at the main building :P

_We did? Shit I totally forgot._

**Max:** Damn, sorry. I’m on my way!

 **Blonde Devil:** Alrighty. The queen of magic castle awaits the princess of Dream Island at the gates of Blackwell Kingdom. See you there :D x3

_Haha._

**Max:** Quest log updated. See you there :)

 **Blonde Devil:** Nerd!

_Yeah right, I am the nerd._

“Close your eyes.” Ordered the ponytail brunette, holding a brush readily in her hand.

“Uhh..”

_Hm, I better shut my mouth and don’t say that I have not much clue about that make-up stuff. Only would myself look like a weirdo. Besides, I think Dana will insist to do this, so let it happen brave young Max._

“..okay.” finished the thoughtful girl her sentence, let her phone vanish into her bag again and closed her eyes.

“I think just a bit of eyeshadow,” Cheered Dana, “and voilà, you look cuter than you already do.” She put on a proud face as she observed the finished work. “You can open your eyes again.”

_Over already? Well, that was fast and didn’t even hurt at all._

_What have I expected anyway, some Metal Gear Solid torture scene stuff? Be realistic, Max. No buttons to mash here!_

The cheerleader grabbed a small mirror form the table and handed it over to the freckled girl next to her, still with a proud expression on her face. “What do you think?”

_Heh Cute, Dana looks like she had won the first prize or something. I have to admit, it doesn’t look too bad. Pretty cool actually. Maybe I stick with it? Why the fuck not. Can’t do any harm to go a little bit riot every now and then!_

_Anyway, I need to meet up with Rachel now. I don’t want to let her wait._

“It looks pretty cool. Thank you Dana.” Answered the smaller brunette and gave the tiny mirror back.

“You’re welcome, Max. That’s the least I can do.”  

“I uh.. have to go now. Rachel wants to meet me at Blackwell kin.. I mean Blackwell” explained Max, stood up from the couch and placed her messenger bag on the usual place at her shoulder.

“Alright Max, have a great first day.” Wished the cheerleader and quickly added with a twinkle, “and next time you can just knock instead of peeking and trying to escape.”

_FUCK. I hate you, universe!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there :D 
> 
> I hope you haven’t forgotten me. I know it’s been a while since the last update. Life got a bit busy and I had zero time to write, plus I focused on other things too like practicing how to draw :D as you may can see at my cover art. (on AO3 it’s at the first chapter)  
> Anyway, in the mean time I got a pretty good idea about the story, what will happen and where it all leads. I know it’s kind of a slow story with not much plot at all, but I hope you all enjoy it so far nonetheless x3
> 
> About this chapter. I originally planned to tell something different here, but the part with Dana turned out to be longer than I thought. So I decided I make it a chapter on its own, the length fits and you girls and guys have something to read from again :D 
> 
> So that’s it for now, let me know what you think if you want and hopefully I see you all next time again x3
> 
> NO EMOJI


	6. Blackwell Kingdom

_So Dana busted me after all. Figures. I guess my escape plan was quite obvious. I seriously need to work on my ninja skills. Thank dog she wasn’t mad. Actually it was pretty sweet of her to share her facial painting stuff with me, even if I don’t usually wear this kind of things._

A few Clouds covered the blue sky and darken the overall sunny day as Max made her way through the dormitories yard to the main building of Blackwell. Only the janitor, who sweeps some leafs from the ground, a group of boys who are doing tricks with their skateboards and a few other students are hanging out here and there scattered all over schoolyard.

Max made a halt next to the fountain, which stands at the center of the yard with a big statue of a person on it. She took a moment to look a bit more around the campus.

_Not very crowded here. Good, that means my gray hoodie camouflage armor has an easy job to keep me invisible. It’s maybe not the most fashionable suit, but I like it anyway. If I ever decide to pimp my wardrobe, I can ask Dana for help.. I think._

_As it seems there’s no blonde speedy out here. Hm, she is probably waiting inside. I know I shouldn’t let her wait any longer, but the photo op from the skater boys there is too good to not take it. Now let’s see how sneaky I can be with you, oh armor of mine._

She carefully shorten the distance to the boys and grabbed her camera out of her bag. Half hiding behind a tree and ready to take the shot, the sneaky photographer zoomed closer and waited for one of the boys to perform a cool trick.

_Aaaand… SNAP! There we go, simple and easy._

“Man, even a Jedi has to be careful as sharp as you shoot.”

_WOAH, JESUS._

Max barely could hold herself back not to shriek out loudly. She almost let her camera fall as she made a short jump because of the unexpected voice behind her.

“Damn, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” The boy apologized and scratched the back of his head. “You alright?”

Max pressed her flat hand against her chest and took a few deep breathes before she answered. “Yeah, just gimme a moment.”

_Fuck, he scared me big time. So much for being invisible. I must look creepy as fuck, hiding behind a tree, waiting to take a picture. Once again you need to do damage control, Max. Try to distract him somehow before he can ask questions. He was talking about something with Jedi. They’re pretty badass cool for sure, but I don’t know what they have to do with it. Anyway, I can work with that._

“S..So, uhm, you think even a Jedi has no chance against the flash?” asked the brunette after she finally turned around to face the boy, seeing wild brown hair and equally colored eyes.

_Really? Max, that was the saddest try ever. I correct myself, I can’t work with that at all._

“Hmm, that’s an interesting question.” Indicated he brown haired boy, closing his eyes for a moment to ponder about it. “I think you’re right. Even Jedi don’t have reflexes like the Flash.”

_What?_

“Uhh..?” the freckled girl gave him a confused look.

“The Flash! He runs with the speed of light! Or even faster.” He explained. “That’s what you was referring to, right?”

_Hahaha what? I was talking about the flash of my camera. How can he come up with such a weird idea? It’s funny tho._

“Heh no. I was referring to the flash of this.” she chuckled and hold up the Polaroid in her hand.

“Oh.” He scratched the back of his head again. “Well, I’m pretty sure that a Jedi can’t escape a photo too.”

_Oh my god he’s such a geek. Hm, takes one to know one, I guess._

Max let out another laugh. “Good to know if I ever want to capture one.” She said and put her camera along with the recently taken picture into her bag.

“If you are lucky.” He stretched out his hand and looked at Max. “By the way, I’m Warren.”

“I’m M..” before she could finish the sentence, the freckled girl got interrupted as she felt an arm slung around her waist.

_Huh?_

“Heya Warren. Sorry but I have to take this one with me.” Rachel said, coming out of nowhere, and dragged the smaller girl away with her.

_Wtf? She out of the blue just kidnaps me before someone else's eyes? That’s so against the rules. Cheater!_

“I’m not even been asked to be kidnapped?” joked the brunette.

“Ya Wish. That’s what ya get for letting me wait that long AND even forget where we wanted to meet up.” Chuckled the long haired blonde and stretched out her tongue.

_Of course she won’t let me get away easily about that. It’s my own fault. Thought, it could be worse._

The freckled girl turned her head around to Warren, waved goodbye while her lips mouthing the word “Sorry”.

_Bye Warren, was nice meeting you, I hope I will see you again someday, if my kidnapper will ever let me out of her fangs again._

“You’re lucky, I will still be your personal tourist guide through this holy halls of wisdom.” The energetic girl let go of max, sprinted up the stairs and hold the door open for the new student. “After you, princess of Dream Island.”

_Haha, what a dork. She’s not ashamed the slightest bit to pull silly things like that._

“Why, thank you.” Replied Max with a short curtsy and entered the building with Rachel right behind her.

* * *

As soon as the door closed behind both girls, Rachel rushed in front of the new student, turned around to face her and stretched out her arm to the side. “Welcome to Blackwell Kingdom, where many men seek high knowledge and fight many battles against dragons and boredom every day.”

“I don’t think I have to fight dragons here.” Pointed the brunette out and smiled.

“You have no idea about some of the teachers here.” She whispered, holding one hand next to her mouth while walking backwards.

_Point taken. She’s right, may last school had some shitty as ass teachers too. Note to myself, prepare to fight against dragons. Like the one Rachel is walking towards to._

… _Oh shit, she will crash into him if she don’t stop! Watch out Rachel, there’s a drag.. eh teacher right behind you. Ugh don’t just think it, Max!_

“Rachel, look behin..” The freckled girl tried to warn her, but it was too late and Rachel walked right into a tall, dark toned man’s back.

“Woopsie. Sorry, that was totally my fault.” She apologized before she even turned around and could take a look at the person she just stumbled into. “Oh.. good morning principal Wells.”

_Principal? Crap, she walked right into the king of dragons. Please don’t burn her to ashes with your fire breath, okay?_

“Miss Amber, how often do I have to tell you to be more careful? An apology wouldn’t be necessary if you would look at where you are going.” He said with a stern look but relaxed voice.

“Right. I will be more cautious from now on, sir! It won’t happen again!” confirmed the cheerful blonde and quickly added a bit quieter. “Maybe.”

The principal only shook his head and turned his attention to Max. “And who have we here? A new Face?”

_That’s it? No dragon’s wrath? HOW CAN SHE FUCKING TAME A DRAGON SO EASILY? Ugh, and now the attention of the principal is on me. Great._

Rachel threw her arm around Max’s shoulders, the other rest on her hip and crossed her legs, having her weight just on one foot, the other touching the ground just with her toes. “That’s Max. She’s new here and I’m her personal guide and will show her around.”

_You are too relaxed, girl. Too. Fucking. Relaxed._

“M-Max Caulfield, sir.” Replied the short haired brunette hesitantly.

“Well then Max, I’m principal Wells and officially welcome you to Blackwell Academy. Do your best, we have high expectations of you.”

_Yeah. No pressure, right?_

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” The shy girl replied in a quiet voice and looked to the ground to avoid eye contact.

“Now then, go on you two. Enjoy your first day here, Max.” wished the principal and walked into his office.

“Aaaalrighty. Let the tour begin!” Cheered Rachel and pointed to a door at the right. “As you may can tell, in there in the Principals office...”

_In other words, don’t get in trouble and you never will see the inner of that cave._

“…and also the assistance office. Normally you have grab your lockers key there, but as nice as I am, I already did that for you.” She put out some keys from her pocket and presented them to the freckled girl. “Ya can thank me later.”

“And how exactly have you persuaded them to hand you over _my_ key?” asked Max with a smile on her lips and crossing her arms.

“Simple.” She answered, lifting her index finger. “Magic!”

“So you are a sorceress?” she asked in a mocking tone.

_Would explain many many of things for sure._

“A pretty damn hot one, right?” stated the blonde with a twinkle.

_N-no comment on that.._

MAx shook her head and flushed a tiny bit. “You’re unbelievable.”

”Next.” Rachel walked backwards again to the middle of the Lobby. She stretched her arm out and pointed to her right. “This way are the legendary halls of nom town, where all your food dreams come true. Well okay, the food isn’t that good, but it’s enough to survive.”

_Oh my god. I know I have weird thoughts sometimes, but I would never ever dare to act like she does right now in public. Isn’t she embarrassed even a tiny bit? Otherwise it is pretty funny thought. Maybe it’s not bad to just do silly things sometimes._

“And in that direction…” The blonde continued and pointed in the opposite direction. “…are the chambers of art, science and music. And most importantly, your very own locker.”

_Art class? Sounds like my direction._

“Oh and the girls emergency escape room is right behind me.” She concluded with pointing at the door at the right behind her with her thumb.

“Yo Rachel, gonna come and watch our game on Friday?” a boy asked as he run past the two girls.

_Random encounter incoming. You should have known this would happen, Max. Rachel isn’t new like you, of course she knows some peeps here._

“To see how you get your ass kicked again?” Mocked the hazel eyed blonde.

“Ouch, that's cruel!” he replied as he pressed his hand at his heart, stumbled a bit and he walked away.

_Rachel used sass. It was very effective._

“So Maxie, what classes will torture you from now on? Besides photography.” Rachel asked and stepped closer towards her.

_Wha? Is she playing psychic tricks again?_

“And how do you know that now?” The brunette asked surprised. “Magic again?”

“Silly you.” The blonde poked Max’s forehead with her index finger. “I think all the photos in your room plus you taking pictures with a camera gave me a pretty big clue about that.”

_Ugh, yes of course. That was a epic level dumb question. Nice Max. One more point for my “making myself look like an idiot” count._

_Hmm how about.. yeah I know how to fix this!_

“Very nice! I, uhh.. just wanted to test if you pay attention!” replied the brunette a bit tentatively.

“Suuuure.”

_That was a very sad try, Max. No one would have bought that ever. Well, aaanyway. Just go on. Act as if there was nothing._

She opened her faithful bag and began to search for her schedule in there. “I have it riiiight... here it is!”

“Hey Rachel. Thank you again for the tip. It worked awesomely.” said a black haired girl while walking by. 

“Your welcome! I knew ya would rock that shit.” Replied Rachel and gave her a beaming smile.

_Well, hello and bye random stranger._

“Lemme have a look.” Her attention back on Max, she took another step closer towards the freckled girl. “Gotcha. Looks like most of your classes are upstairs. I would suggest you lock away some stuff first before we continue. Sounds good?”

“Your tour, your rules.” Agreed Max and placed the schedule into her bag again.

As the brunette saw the mischievous expression of the other girl, she quickly added with a sight. “Just.. keep it to yourself.”

Without saying anything more, Rachel took the other girls hand and dragged her into the direction of the art and science classes.

_Touchy Rachel strikes agai_ _ n. Well, wouldn’t be her if not.  _ _Heh it’s funny. I only know her one day and I’m already comfortable with this. I mean, there’s nothing unusual about it, right? Just friends holding hands… in public.. oh god._

Max cheeks turned red as she carefully took a look around and saw that some of the students where watching at them both while they were whispering with each other.

_Shit, why are they all looking at us. So much to my_ _inconspicuous grey armor._ _And the fuck since when is it so crowded here? Oh man.. don't get the wrong ideas, please. Maybe Victoria has gossip something around. I so hope not, but why else would they all look at us like that? Oh man, even if Rachel said I shouldn't worry about it, I can't help it now. What if.._

“…r we are.”

“Uhh ?” the photographer looked confused at the keys which Rachel let dance in front her eyes.

“Ya locker, dummy. You’re in school, remember? First day, personal tour, evil dragons.” Commented the blonde girl cheeky and poked Max forehead again.

_Outch. I hope this isn’t getting a thing._

“Right.” She said, grabbed the key and put it into her new lock to open it.

_Hellooo emptiness. I don’t think I have anything with me to feed you right now, sorry. I promise you will be filled with many fluffy stuff in the future. Deal?_

“Whasup Rachel.” heard Max ano ther male voice greeting.

_Seriously? Again? Is there a Rachel Amber fan club or something?_

Max peeked cautiously out of her locker and risked a look.

“Wanna hang later?” started the stranger and paused as he noticed Max. “The guys and me wanted to chill at, uhh, the usual place.”

_Don’t want to reveal your secret hideout to the new girl? Fine with me, I don’t wanna know anyway._

“Nah sorry, today’s bad, got other plans. I’m totally in another time, kay?” smiled Rachel and turned the boy down.

“For reals? Common, you hasn't chilled with us in ages!” He complained disappointed.

The Hazel eyed blonde sighted, “Look, I have some...”

_ Bla bla bla. As long as they chat, I can snoop a bit. According to Rachel the art class is somewhere here. The question is which one of the doors it is. I better don't make it too complicated. Congratulations door to my left, you are the winner. Time to test my luck. _

She quietly closed her locker, walked the few steps to the door and carefully took a look into the room.

_ Aaaand wrong. No art to see anywhere. Looks more like Dr. Frankensteins lab with all the bottles and weird tools. Must be the science class. Well at least I know where I have to go later. Next try. _

She retreated from the lab and twirled around.

_So which lucky one is next. Let's see.._

_..oh? Is that Kate over there? Barely haven't recognized her with that bun. Oh shit, she's_ _surrounded by Victoria and two other girls? It's the one from yesterday and the blonde one I don’t know. Poor Kate, she doesn’t look very happy. Figures, she implied that Victoria was not nice to her._

_..Should I go and help her? Not that I can do anything anyway. They will just jump on me too. Sorry Ka..._

Suddenly she got pulled in the direction of the four girls she just observed.

“Rachel?” she asked, but the blonde didn't react.

_What the hell is she up to?_

“G’morning Vicky. Morning Tyty and Corty.” The energetic blonde cheered maybe a bit too loud. “What’s up?” She hold her flat hand up in the air, ready to receive some high fives.

All four girls turned her attention to Rachel and her companion. Kate's expression changed to a more relieved one as she recognized who is approaching them, whereas the two girls next to Victoria were glancing unsure between Rachel and the pixie blonde.

“What do you want, Rachel? Don’t you see that we are occupied right now?” said Victoria in a sharp, annoyed voice.

_Occupied? Sure. With harassing Kate you mean._

The hazel eyed girl lowered her arm without anyone taking the offer. “Sure I saw that ya showing Katie the school, just like I do with Max.” She pointed at the freckled girl beside her, “So I thought it would be more fun if we would group up together, don’t ya think?”

Victoria snorted before she spoke, “Like I want to be seen with someone like her.” She pointed at Max. “A hipster, acting all weird and with no fucking sense of fashion.”

“Right. Who uses such an old camera anyway?” the black haired girl added.

_ Excuse me? I was you who were assholes without a fucking reason. Just like now. I hope you have a plan Rachel. I don't need that shit again. _

“Hey, the three of you don’t have to be an ass. She’s just shy okay? Like Katie here. If you take your time to get to know them both, they will be pretty cool to hang.” Defended Rachel both girls and crossed her arms.

“Yeah, Like that will ever happen, right V?” pointed the long haired blonde next to Victoria out.

“Do not the fuck lecture me, Rachel.” Victoria raised her voice. “I don’t need to be friends with everybody like you. I have some pride.” She scoffed.

_Can someone be much more of a bitch? What’s her fucking problem?_

“Let’s get out of here girls. I have enough of this crap.” The pixie blonde ordered before anyone could say another thing and walked away with the two other girls.

_Thank dog. I don't understand how Rachel can keep her cool like that. All she can do is being an ass. Even I can tell after one day. I hope they weren’t too shitty to Kate._

The brunette made a step closer to Kate and asked in a worried tone. “Are you okay, Kate?”

A shy smile appeared on her face. “I’m now, thank you Max!” She turned her head to the other girl. “And thank you too, Rachel!”

“S’cool.” The hazel eyed blonde waved with her hand in front of her head. “Without Maxie here I wouldn’t have noticed it, so all the glory belongs to the superstar here.” She nudged the brunette gentle with her elbow.

_Me? Wtf? I literally was too chicken to do anything! How can she say that?_

“So how’s the bet, Katie.” Rachel said to the smaller blonde. “Want to join us on our tour? As I said, I show Maxie the ground.”

The offer made Kate’s face lit up as she replied. “I alrea…” but was cut off from the schools bell.

“Aww damn. Already time for torture and we’re not nearly done with the sightseeing.” complained Rachel, then turned to the short haired brunette. “I blame you and your late ass on that one!”

“Hey!” claimed Max. “Leave my ass out of this one!”

Both Kate and Rachel couldn’t hold back a laugher.

_Wtf Max. Where was that coming from?_

“You’re such a dork.” The blonde stated. “Even without your ass, you can’t bail out on this one so easily. As reparation ya have to come with me after school!”

“Oh you want to kidnap me again?” Smiled the freckled girl and crossed her arms. “At least tell me where you are dragging me.”

“Duh! That’s a surprise of course.” Replied the blonde.

_Of course. What else._

“Alright, we should hurry and get in our class. We’re late already.” Called Rachel while already hurrying away from the two girls. “Your first class is English, that’s exactly upstairs. You’ll find it easily.” She shouted and vanished behind the next corner.

“Your first class is English?” asked the bun haired blonde. ”Mine too. I know where the class is.”

“You cereal?” said Max.

The blonde only nodded with a smile.

_Same class with Kate? Yay! That’s at least one class that won’t suck._

“Let’s go then!” the brunette said.

_Time to fight dragons and boredom!_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya my two fans :D Long time not seen +waves+ :D
> 
> Yep couldn’t really write much lately and sometimes I only added one or 2 sentences if I had the chance. Somehow this chapter wasn't as much of a mess as I thought it would be haha :D I hope I won’t have such a big break for the next chapter too, but sadly I think that will be the case :(
> 
> I was curious myself how this chapter would turn out, because I had no clue at all how I should write a tour through the entire school and not make it boring. I usually had planned to make the full run around the building. Luckily I got the idea with Kate and Max running late helped too, so that they won't finish the tour to cut things of early haha :D plus I could put in all I wanted to show in this chapter. So yay :D
> 
> I also wanted to say few words to my writing style, because I know I could describe more how Max, Rachel or anyone else mean things or actions, whatever. But I like to only describe facial expressions and gestures to keep this all a bit mysterious and want my readers to guess things. And I have the feeling I would lose too much of character, if I would just tell things in just a text box instead of letting the characters say or think it themselves :D Obviously they don't explain how they mean certain actions and things they are saying, just like in real life :D Sadly I am not an experienced writer and my english isn't that advanced, so it may sounds mostly repetitive. Sorry for that x3
> 
> Thanks for reading and see you next time x3
> 
> NO EMOJI


	7. Surprise

The teacher was deep in his speech for quite a while now, as the school bell abruptly cut him off.

_The sound of rescue!_

Max sat near the window with her hands stabilizing her head while her elbows resting on the table. She watched one after another student standing up and rushing out the classroom in a hurry.

_It’s official now, I successfully survived the first day! Even better, I didn’t had to talk much and I got a seat at the last line in almost every class. If that isn’t somethin to celebrate.._

She grabbed her trusty Polaroid, pointed with it at herself and pressed down the trigger. The expected flash escaped the camera and one moment later the device spat out the photo.

_Even thought I had to correct every dragon to not use my full name, all this went better than I imagined._

_Well almost. Why the fuck do I have to be in the same photography class as icky Vicky? Sucks big time. Now she knows that I don’t want to be called by my first name. Great!_

The brunette looked to her right and found a blonde girl timidly smiling at her.

_On the yay side, I have most classes with bun Katie. Heavy grin emoji._

_And omg this smile is too sweet. Sorry, I just have to!_

She lifted her camera again and shot another picture of the mousy girl next to her.

“Hey!” protested Kate with a grin.

“Sorry.“ Said the photographer, “ If is see something beautiful that I like, I have no choice but to take a picture of it.“ And snapped the second photo out of her Polaroid.

“Uhm..” stammered the bun girl with wide eyes, turned her gaze to the ground and flushed bright red.

_Hm? Whats with her? Did I say som… OH HOLY SHIT! NONONONO! I didn’t mean it like that! God damnit, Max!_

Max cheeks also turned bright red.

_Fuck. What do i do now? Running away as fast as i can? Probably not an option. But just sitting there now only makes it worse._

The brunette slowly started to pack her school stuff on the table into her bag.

_Man, this is so awkward now. I didn’t meant to.. It was just a compliment and not meant to be like I want to... Did it come across like that? Of course I did, dummy! That’s why she’s so silent right now. Gnaaaah!_

Max closed her bag and swung it on the usual place on her shoulder, as she stood up and left the classroom with the other girl.

_Fuck. You have to do something Max, this silence isn’t good at all. Say something! Anything!_

“So..”

“Yes?” Kate replied a bit too fast.

_So. fucking. damn. awkward! Can get it any more worse if i mention this? I bet Rachel wouldn’t have any problems with that.. she just would bubble straight forward._

_Hmm.. yeah, why not? Maybe I can Rachel my way out of it! Not thinking so much and just say something? Common Max, you can do it!_

“I uhm..” Max started her next try. “I heard you yesterday as you played violin.“ She turned her head slightly to take a quick glance at the blonde. “It was beautiful.”

_Please, please, please, please!_

“And you wanted to take a photo of it!“ Giggled the bun girl.

“What?” blurted the brunette out quickly. “No!”

Kate shielded her moth with her hand snickered even more at brunettes reaction.

_Argh, damn. Touché Kate. I didn’t know you can be such a sassball._

“Okay. I deserved that.” She laughed a bit herself as both girls went the stair down to the main hall. ”Sorry about earlier, I didn’t meant to..”

“I know.“ Interrupted Kate her with a warm smile and continued after a short pause. “So, mhh.. you liked my violin play?“

_Aww Kate, you are waaay to sweet for this world. Victoria and her minions must have real problems if they have to pull such shit with you._ _I’m glad Rachel was there to rescue our bun here._

“You kidding me? As I said, it was beau..”

_Nope not that word again, Max._

“..uhm, gorgeous! Where did you learn to play like that?”

“You’re silly, Max.” The blonde girl giggled and continued while they both exited the building and were greeted by the warm sunlight. “I played since I was a child. My parents wanted us all to start and play an instrument.”

“Us all?” asked the brunette and sat down at the fountain in front of th building, along with Kate.

“Yes, sorry. I mean my sisters and me.” She paused, opened her bag and put out her phone.

“This is my youngest sister.” Kate said after she found a certain picture on her phone. “She plays piano.”

_Aww she looks sweet._

“And this..“ the blonde swiped to the next picture, “..is my other younger sister.”

“Playing clarinet.” Concluded the photographer.

_Thanks captain obvious. It’s shown in the picture.._

“Yes.“ Kate nodded and chuckled. “Our parents were against E-guitar and drums. I remember she begged for almost a month before giving up.”

_No fun!_

The blonde tilted her head. “What about you?”

“Me?” questioned the brunette. “I uhh.. I play guitar every now and then.” She turned her gaze on the ground. “I started to learn it by myself about a year ago, and that’s pretty much what it sounds like. I guess.”

“I would love to listen to it!” Beamed the smaller girl.

“I.. I don’t know.” Muttered Max. “It really is crappy.”

_Kate is so good with her violin. I only would embarrass myself. And half of the dorm would laugh and me too. Sorry Kate, but no private concert for you._

The freckled girl felt and hand on top of hers. As she raised her head and looked at the other girl, she found a warm smile directed at her.

“Please?” the blonde squeezed her hand softly. “I promise I won’t laugh!”

_That’s totally cheating with that sweet smile and everything!_

“Fine.” The brunette breathed out and shook her head with a smile. “As I said, it’s crappy, so you’ve been warned.”

“Yay!” cheered Kate and clapped her hands together. “Thank you, Max.”

_Too. Cute. For. This. World! I’m glad I found a friend like her here. Dana too, and Rachel._

_Back in Seattle I only had Fernando and Kristen, after who knows how long.. Damn I still have to give them a status update._

_But first I should snag the phone number of Katie here You know, just in case._

“Say..” she hesitated for a moment. “Is it too much to ask for your phone number?”

“Of course not, Max!” The bun girl shook her head.

“Awesome.” Cheered the brunette while she grabbed her own phone and began to search for her number as it started vibrate.

_New message? Guess you have to wait, sorry._

She continued maneuvered through her phone as the phone vibrated wildly again and again from new incoming messages.

_Jesus, it’s okay. I know I got messages. Just one moment, phone._

“Here’s my number.” Max shifted herself a bit closer to the other girl.

“Okay.“ She said and typed the number into her phone. “Got it.”

_Nice. Now let’s see who eagerly wants my humble attention. And if the person is worthy of it at all._

_Pretentious, Max. Much pretentious._

**Blonde devil:** Woop Woop :D

Of course it’s the speedy.

**Blonde devil:** R you still breathing and alive?

**Blonde devil:** Good!

**Blonde devil:** Drag your ass to the parking lot. Naow! :P

**Blonde devil:** No bailing out! Remember that’s your punishment for being late x3

**Max:** suddenly you want my ass huh? :P

**Blonde devil:** Always ;) but in that case your ass is from very special matter :D

_What the..? You’ll never learn it, Max. Don’t give her such opportunities!_

**Max:** I will regret this, won’t I?

**Blonde devil:** hmm... :)

_Confirmed!_

“Looks like Rachel wants to meet me now.” The brunette turned her head to the girl on her right. “Is this alright with you? Or do you want me to bodyguard you to your room? You know, just in Chase.”

“My god, that was terrible.” The bun girl snickered and put a smile on her lips. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry, Max.”

Max smiled back and stood up like the other girl and they embraced each other in a hug.

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later then.” The freckled girl stated.

“Have fun.” Wished the blonde as she let go of Max and waved good bye while she walked away.

_And there goes brave young Kate. May the legends of her be glorious and unforgotten!_

_Okay, enough silly thoughts. I have a new mission!_

_Hmm let’s see, I think the parking lot was that direction._

She began to move through the school yard in the direction of the gym. As the freckled girl took the steps down to the parking lot, she already hold an eye out for Rachel.

“Over here, Maxie!” Shouted the cheerful Blonde as soon as she spotted Max.

_Hmm.. Something tells me she’s over there. Nooot sure what exactly. Could either be the loud voice or the discrete heavy waving._

_Seems like she’s alone, which is a surprise, thinking about this morning. I wonder if this was just a coincidence, or if she really is popular? If you can call that few peeps popular. But she seems to know almost everybody. Dana, Warren, Victoria. Even Katie who only arrived five days ago too._

_What would she want with me anyway, if she can hang out with so many and way cooler folks?_

_Well, however._

“Hey Rachel. Barely didn’t see you.” Said the short haired girl ironically after she closed the distance between them.

“My bad.” Her face turned into a mischievous grin. “Guess next time I have to shout louder.”

_God, please no._

The brunette sighted and shifted her weight to the other foot. “So what’ your big plan today?”

“Straight to the point, huh?“ The long haired blonde grinned at Max for a moment before she suddenly stormed forward and pulled the shy girl into a hug.

_Oh well.. okay. I expected something else as punishment, but I wont complain if that is all._

Rachel released the captured girl again and placed her hands on the brunettes shoulders, while looking directly into her eyes with a warm smile.

“Uhh..” Max gulped and turned slightly red.

_Damn those eyes again. Why do they always…_

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Rachel said with a twinkle.

Max was only be able to nod without breaking the eye contact.

“Now..” Rachel let go of the other girl and pointed at the car behind her. “..jump in and I’ll take you to a magical place.“

_Shit, she totally played me again. Sorry mom and dad, I know you told me not to get into a car of a stranger._

“Are ya hungry?” asked Rachel.

“No, I’m fine. I got some nosh at the food factory of the school. ” she answered while entering the car. “You were right, it tastes barely good enough to survive.”

“Haha, alrighty.” The hazel eyed girl turned the engine on and moved the car out of the Blackwell parking lot.

 

* * *

 

Driving in silence for a while now, since they left the school, Rachel hummed to the mild music playing in the car, whereas Max was peeking out the window, with her bag in the lap.

_This is actually the first time I'm able to look at the town calmly. It's so nostalgic. Doesn't seem like much has changed in all the years. The peaceful and quiet feeling hasn't gone away. Well, except for school bullshit drama that disturbs it a little bit. Pretty dumb from me to think this time it would be any different. At least I had a better head start._

_Yes! That’s the spirit Max. Stay positive! Everything_ _will turn out alright eventually._

_..Even.._

The blue eyed girl closed her eyes with a sad expression on her face and exhaled a deep breath.

_Fuck!_

A arm reached out to the brunette and nudged her gently. “Hey dream girl! Don't ya want to answer?“

Perplexed, Max blinked with her eyes a few times. “Uhh, what?“

“Your phone.“ Rachel pointed at the bag of the brunette. “It was crying for attention a few minutes ago.“

“Ohh, yeah. Sure.“

The freckled girl digged through her messanger bag, until she finally found her phone.

_Let's see.._

_Ha ha Rachel. Funny idea of cry for attention, miss dragon tamer. That’s just one message i missed… from an unknown number? Who can that be?_

**Unknown number:** Hey, it's Kate. :) Thank you for giving me your number. You forgot to note mine, so here it is. :)

_Ohhhh shit, right_ _. I was in such a hurry to meet that blonde devil, that i forgot to get her contact. Thanks_ _Kate! You're the best!_

**Max:** Saved! Thank you :)

_I’m glad I haven't offended her with my comment after class. That easily could have go ultra wrong. Good thing we never ever never ever ever never speak about this again._

_Mhh thought it was nice to chitty chat with her afterwards. She's so nice and kind. I’m glad i got to know her a little better._

Max turned her head and focused on her driver.

_Not like Rachel. Even if we had a food da.. uhm ate and spent some time together, I know almost zero about her. She otherwise seems to know half the school, if i think about how often we got interrupted on our tour. Looks like almost everyone likes her or want to chill with her. And why the fuck not. She's funny and positive and she helps others._

_Like Kate. Man, thank god the was there and stepped up for her. Who knows what the eff Victoria had done to poor Katie. Vicky even barked at Rachel. I just don't get why she didn't defend herself. She usually is good at saying stuff right of the bat_

“I know I’m beautiful, but ya don’t have to look at me that obviously.“ Declared Rachel sassy to the still starring brunette.

_Crap. You fell right into it again, Max!_

“I, uhm..“ she opened her mouth, but closed it again immediately and stayed silent.

“Why, thanks!“ said the blonde mockingly with a grin and played with her feather earring.

_Uhh?_

“Thanks for what?“ asked the freckled brunette with a confused undertone.

Rachel let out a snicker. “Obviously my stunning appearance made you lose your tongue.”

_My god. Does she ever go out of sass mode? Seriously, how can someone be so silly all the time? What a big dork._

“You’re the worst, you know that?“ Countered Max.

“Yet ya keep my company.“ She replied playfully, placing her index finger on her chin. “I wonder why.“

“Easy. You buy me food and chauffeur me around. That’s a huge plus.“ replied Max instantly.

Rachel only laughed at that and focused on driving again.

_No sassy comment back? HAH! One point for Max Caulfield.. against a thousand for her. I’m catching up, Rachel!_

“Aaand we’re here!“ declared the blonde, pressed the break of the car with her foot and brought the car to a halt.

_And where is “here”?_

The brunette leaned a bit towards the front window.

_A junkyard? That I supposed to be something “magical”? Well, at least it something unexpected. No clue what we want here._

“So?“ After both girls exited the ride, the long haired blonde stretched out both arms to her side to present the place. “What do you think?“

_It's a junkyard._

“Not exactly my understanding of a magical place.“ answered Max, looking around the place a unsure.

_Unless i find an old speaking toaster or something. That would be worth a picture._

“Are you accusing me to lie?“ Rachel gave the photographer a shocked expression. “I’m hurt, Maxie.“

_Oh please._

“Only if you can’t convince me wrong.“ Responded Max and crossed her arms with a grin on her lips.

“Okay, got it. Leave it to me.“ Rachel pointed to her right, “So here.. we have junk. Over here..“ Next she pointed to her left, “..we have small junk. And here..“ She turned around and open her arms wide and shouted cheerfully, “..we have a lot more awesome junk!“

_I think I see a pattern here._

The Blonde swirled around again and walked next to Max. “Nah seriously, it’s a pretty cool place to just hang out an chill.”

_Hanging out between trash. Sure, sounds inviting._

Rachel slung her arm around the brunettes shoulders and dragged her in the direction of a of train tracks. “I often come here when i need a break from life.“

“Like all your fans at Blackwell?“ Pointed the shy girl out, making it sound like a question.

“It’s that obvious?“ asked Rachel in a neutral tone.

_Duh._

“I guess.“ Max made a brief pause. “I mean they stopped us like a thousand times.“

“Mhh, yeah. Sorry for that, Max.“ Apologized the long haired girl and turned left to a small open field with the other girl. “I didn’t plan it like that, but i should have known it would happen.“

_Somehow she sound so un Rachel like_ _now. Kind of.. serious?_

“It’s okay.“ The photographer replied. “I know I’m just the uncool new girl anyway.“

“You are not uncool, Maxie.“ Remarked Rachel and sat down on the hood of a wrecked car.

_Right. My shy self and old camera literally screams “I’m cool bros.“_

“I’m not sure about that.“ replied the brunette as she sat herself next to Rachel, sliding her bag off and placed it on the ground.

“I am.“ Stated the blonde without a doubt in her voice. “You are already way cooler than most other peeps I know.“

_Whaa..?_

The freckled girls hesitated for a moment before she replied. “Are we still talking about me?“

“Nope.“ Rachel said simply. “I talk about this one girl. You know, brown hair, blue eyes, always carrying a bag with her.. oh and she is a huuuuge dork!“

_Ugh._

“You suck.“ Frowned Max and sunk a bit down.

The log haired blonde snickered. “Look Ma..“

“Rachel?“ heard both girls someone calling before the hazel eyed girl could finish her sentence.

_Huh?_

Rachels face lit up as she jumped up to stand on the hood and waved. “I’m over here!“

_Someone else is coming? For realz? It was so nice just we two together. Now I’m turning all shy and quiet again._

_Chill, Max. Don’t panic. You get this. You survived a day full of strangers. This will be a piece of cake compared to that._

“Sometimes you’re a fucking mystery, Rachel.“ Said the voice as it came closer and closer until the source of it turned around the corner. “What hell is that booty you was tal.. HOLY..“

_..SHIT!_

“Max?“ said the girl surprised.

“SURPRIIIIIISE!“ Shouted Rachel joyful as her hands flew in the air.

_Blue.. hair..?_

The brunette eyes grew wide and slipped of the car.

_What the…_

“..fuck is she doing here, Rachel?“ asked Chloe, her brows furrowed.

The hazel eyed blonde jumped down of the car and took a few steps towards the girl. “Aren’t you happy to see her?“

“Why the fuck should I?“ Huffed the blue haired girl.

_I knew it._

“Because she is your friend?“ replied Rachel, raising her voice.

“ _Was_ my friend!“ corrected the angry girl almost shouting and pointed at Max. “She left me five years ago and never dared to contact me.“

_I screwed it all up._

“And she came back now!“ Pointed the blonde out with balled fists.

“What the fuck? Which side are you on?“ she laughed in disbelieve. “You don’t even know her!“

_I'm the worst._

“I do!“ Defended Rachel herself and crossed her arms. “If you want to know, we had a nice talk yesterday evening.“

“I can’t believe this.“ shouted the girl angrily this time. “Is that why you left earlier? To hang out with her?“

_I’m sorry._

“Fuck you Rachel! I don’t need this shit. Have fun with your new best friend.“ She threw the middle finger at both girls and stormed away.

_Please forgive me._

“Ugghh FUCK.” The blonde let out a frustrated scream. “This didn’t go as planned.”

“Shit! Max, I’m sorry..” She apologized and turned around. “I didn’t kn.. My god, MAX!”

Rachel saw the freckled girl kneeling on the ground, crying in her hands, as she rushed to her to wrap her arms around her

“I’m sorry, Max.” The blonde whispered in the other girls ear while holding her tight. “This is all my fault.”

_Chloe.._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N  
> Wooo finally Chl.. heyheyhey wait o.o put the pitchforks down, jesus >.< woah +ducks+ and don't throw stuff at me please?
> 
> Haha, well finally we get some plot to the story. Everything until now was just creating the world and introducing characters and stuff :D I'm glad I'm finally done with that and can rush things a little bit more. Thanks for all your patience x3
> 
> What can i say about that chapter?
> 
> First off, yep I skipped al the class parts, because I had no clue how to make them interesting, so byebye xD oh and also I couldn't decide if I make Jeffo a teacher or not :D maybe I decide on it later, who knows. :D
> 
> That whole part with Kate was only there because StevoCPP mentioned some „return of Kate in the next chapter“ and i thought why the fuck not :D If you don't like what came out of it, blame him :P
> 
> I don't think i have much more to say to the other stuff, since the chapter is mostly blablabla until shit gets down :D It was really hard to not let Max think about Chloe earlier in the chapter. I had to avoid it more than one time, since imo that would be the obvious conclusion if she think about the town in nostalgia :D
> 
> Anyway, i will see you next chapter if i survive this one :D tho i have no clue how i will tackle it. But i'll get this x3 
> 
> seeya peeps :D
> 
> NO EMOJI


	8. Remorse

Orange was the color which turned more and more prominent in the sky. The walk back to the dormitories through the Blackwell courtyard was quiet, only interrupted by the noises of the few students who were dispersed over the place. The blonde had supportively slung her right arm around the freckled girl’s waist and silently led her the way.

_Pathetic! You are pathetic, Max! How could I possibly have any hope? Five years without giving her any sign of myself, of course she hates me. But I wanted to stay in contact. Really! Fuck me and my fucking shy self! I’m always too afraid to just fucking open my mouth or take any action. And I’m always getting shit for it._

_..Maybe I deserve it._

_And now.._

The brunettes body stiffened as her head sunk even lower than it was before.

_No.. don’t start to cry again, Max. Not in public. I.. I can’t.. don’t want anyone to see me like that._

The arm around the Max’s waist pulled her body closer to the guiding blonde. She felt the strangers hand gentle caressing the side of her body.

 _Rachel_..

The brunette closed her eyes for some moments.

_This never would have happened if Rachel hadn’t dragged me to the.._

_No._

_God can I get even more selfish? It’s not her fault and you know that, Max. You fucked that up all by yourself she only wanted to help. Heck she even apologized again and again on the way back here. Yet the only thing I do is being silent._

_I’m the worst._

Max raised her head a bit and turned it slightly towards the blonde girl to show her a tiny smile, which resulted in getting one immediately in return.

Arriving at the dorms, the two girls ignored the few students hanging out at the field and walked directly to the entrance of the building.

A long haired blonde sat at the stairs before the door and was playing on her phone. She looked up as Rachel and Max got close enough for her to be noticed.

“Oh. Hey Rachel.” She said, in her voice a hint of worry.

_No please. I only want to be back in my dorm._

The blonde stood up and continued to speech. “Listen, I wan..” But stopped as Rachel shook her head.

“We’ll talk later Tay, okay?” replied Rachel, nodding weakly at the brunette next to her.

_Tay? Who’s that?_

_..I don’t really care to be honest._

The gaze of Tay switched to the girl next to Rachel.

“Of course.” She simply answered with a nod, her expression turned warmer, as she saw the other girls head hanging down without any strength.

Mouthing thanks, the hazel eyed girl led Max up the short stairs.

“Uhm..” Tay hesitated.

The other blonde turned her head. “Yeah?”

“I just..” She raised her head to meet Rachels eyes. “Victoria isn’t here.”

_Who the fuck cares.._

Tay received a warm smile and a nod, before both girls vanished into the building.

 

* * *

 

“Here we go.” Said Rachel as she opened the door to Max’s room and guided the silent girl in.

_Thank god, finally._

After entering the room, the freckled girl exited from Rachel’s grip. She slid off her bag to let it fall to the ground without any care, wherever she was as she walked towards her bed. Sitting down on it, her gaze was still focused on the ground while she let her arms rest on her legs and interlocked her hands.

_How can I be so fucking dumb and think Chloe would ever forgive me? As if she just shrugs it off and say “Forget it, Max. You only bailed on me and never said a word in 5 years, after my dad died. No biggie, you’re here now. Want to hang out?”_

_I’m so fucking stupid.. I don’t deserve her as a friend. I don’t deserve anyone as a friend. I can’t even take care of one friendship. Maybe it’s better if.._

Feeling the touch of a pair of hands grabbing her own, she got brought out of her train of thoughts. As she raised her head to look at the source of the connecting hands, Max found the blonde kneeling before her, looking at her with a warm smile.

_Fuck! Look at me, sitting here in self-pity, only being sorry for my own ass. Despite getting her own beat down, Rachel brought me back here, like I asked her to do. She didn’t even questioned it. And if that’s not enough, she is still putting on a smile._

The freckled girl lowered her head again, her eyes focusing on nothing in particular at the floor of her room.

_God and earlier I wanted to blame her for everything. Can you be a more shitty person than you already are, Max?_

The silent girl finally opened her mouth and said quietly as she closed her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Rachel began to gently caressing the other girl’s hand and asked. “For what?”

_For being an ass. For being selfish. For ruining everything. For.._

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” the blonde stated, no hesitation in her voice. “You hear me?”

_I wish that was true.._

“I am the one who has to apologize,” she added in a low tone.

_No.. this is entirely on me. Nothing of this is your fault, Rachel._

_Fuck! She must feel horrible if she thinks it’s her fault. I.. at least I can.._

Max looked up again to meet Rachel’s face. “How are you?”

_Took you long enough to ask that!_

“Me?” asked the hazel eyed girl a bit surprised, but answered in a second with a tiny grin. “You know me, I’m badass, as always!”

_Silly._

The brunettes lips formed a weak smile, which was returned by Rachel’s own lips.

“That’s what I want to see,” stated the blonde, squeezing Max’s hands. “Don’t you worry about me, okay?”

The short haired girl only nodded as an answer.

_I don’t deserve to be treated like that. Fuck! I only had to send one stupid message to Chloe and nothing of this would have had happened. Rachel got shit she doesn’t deserve. All because of me!_

Despite squeezing her eyes tightly together, the short haired girl couldn't hold back a few sobs.

_D..don’t start to cry Max. Not while someone can see you._

_I’m sorry Rachel, but.._

The photographer opened her eyes again. It took a moment before she spoke quietly. “C.. Can I be alone? Please?”

She immediately felt a squeeze on her hands before Rachel answered. “Of course, Max. I will be in my Room. If you need anything, please text me, okay?”

Again, she nodded weakly and forced a small smile out of herself. “Thank you.”

Rachel gave the brunettes arms a gentle touch before she stood up and silently walked out of the room, carefully closing the door behind her without any force.

As soon as she was alone, Max slipped of her boots, crawled backwards on her bed until her rear touched the wall and hugged her legs, which she pressed tightly on her front body.

_Chloe.._

Tears began to flow, as the brunette finally loosened up the tension she held back the whole time.

_She sounded so pissed off.. so angry. How she said I was her friend.. without any hesitation._

_How can I blame her? The week after William’s death she was so fucking sad, no matter what I tried. And then we left no long after.._

_I did nothing but kick our friendship in the ass by not staying in contact.._

_It would have been so easy to just send a “Hi”. I.. I was too afraid she hated me for leaving.. for abandoning her.._

_And now.._

The sobbing and silent crying was the only sound which filled the room. As time passed the surroundings slowly was illuminated by the darkness coming from outside as Max let out the build-up emotion of the event at the junkyard.

After a while the brunette eventually calmed down. Her tears and cries turned into mere sobs here and there. As she sat there for quite a while, the ringtone of her phone suddenly started to play.

_Leave me alone, whoever you are._

Ignoring her silent order, the phone continued to rang persistently for another half a minute.

_Don’t you get it? I don’t want to answer right now._

Not giving up, the sound of the jingle still filled the room.

_..What if it is Chloe? Maybe she wants to.._

She slipped quickly to the edge of her bed and stretched herself widely until she could reach her bag. As she opened it, Max blindly searched for her phone with her hand.

_C'mon dumb phone.. where are you?_

As soon as she found the vibrating device, she pulled her hand out as fast as she could.

_Please, please let it be.._

One quick look at the device let the freckled girls hope vanish from one second to the other.

_Dumbass me. Of course it isn't her.. she doesn't even have my number. Not to mention that she has no reason to talk to me at all.._

Finally the vibration in her hand died and with it the room fell in silence again.

_There’s no way Chloe would ever forgive me. She made that pretty clear._

_God, just look at her. She changed so much since back then. Blue hair and that punk rock outfit. I bet she has tons of other friends who are way cooler than me. She doesn’t have a place for me anymore anyway._

Not even a minute later, the familiar sound of her ringtone started to break the peace of the quiet ambience once more.

 _Oh man, really?_ _I just want to be left alone._

_But it’s mom.. or dad again._

_If i don’t answer they will be worried.. probably. Or even pissed at me.._

_Fuck, okay. Get your shit together, Max. You can do one quick call, pretending everything is fine without crying. You get this!_

The brunette took one big sight with closed eyes, before she accept he all and hold the speaker against her ear.

“Hey,” she answered, trying to sound normal.

“Hey sweety," replied a female voice on the other side. “It’s Mom.“

“Hey mom,” she greeted, sounding a bit weaker than before.

“How are you doing? How was your first day at school? I hope you paid attention in class.”

_Ugh. I really don’t want to deal with question bombs right now._

“I’m okay. School was okay too,” answered Max shortly.

“I’m glad to hear,” replied her mother, giving her voice a slight cheer. “Did you get to know some other students?”

_Fuck, mom.._

The brunette shut her eyes close and hold her breath for a moment.

“I know you.. like to be on your own, but you shouldn’t hide all day in your room,” she continued as Max didn’t reply to her.

_Why do you have to come up with that again..?_

“Maxine? Are you alright, sweety?” asked her mother in a worried tone, as Max didn’t answer.

_Ugh, shit. Get it together, Max! I don’t want her to notice._

“Y..yeah mom. I’m fine, don’t worry.. It was just a long day,” answered the brunette quietly, her voice cracking a bit at the end.

It took a few seconds for her mother to reply. “Do you have problems with other students? We talked about this, Maxine. You can go to your teachers if they cause you any trouble.”

_That’s not it.._

“N..no. No one causes me trouble.”

“Are you sure? You can tell me, sweety. If you want, I can talk to your principal,” offered the worried mother.

_Fuck mom.. no! Can’t you just.. ugh! I don’t want to deal with this shit right now._

“I’m sorry mom. I really have to go back to my homework,” stated the freckled girl abruptly. “I’ll text you later.”

It took a few seconds for her mother to reply. “Okay, I understand. We’ll talk some other time, sweety.”

_Thank god._

“Thank you, mom. I love you.”

“I love you too, Maxine. Byebye.” Her mother replied and ended the call.

_Stupid fucking shit._

She shut down the device immediately after the call ended and threw it across the room in the direction of her couch.

_Now I even lied to mom. Nice Job. You are egoistic, a coward and a liar. I wonder why anyone even wants to deal with me. I don’t deserve any of this._

She moved back to her previous position on the bed and grabbed her teddy while she pressed her back at the wall again.

_I don’t deserve a sweet friend like Kate._

_I don’t deserve to be treated kindly by Rachel._

_And I don’t deserve Chloe back in my li.._

Max closed her eyes shut and hugged the stuffed animal tightly as her tears began to flow again.

_I’m sorry Chloe.. I'm sorry.. I miss you so much.._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, now you all can pitchfork me :P
> 
> Hello there :D
> 
> I don’t know if I exaggerated with this chapter or not. It feels like I kinda did, but at the same time I did not. Otherwise I don’t really have anything more to say to this chapter.
> 
> On another note, in the meanwhile I reread my very first chapter again, and oh gosh. I still like it, but I realized that Max was a bit more outgoing back then and that I would have written some parts differently. Oh well, I still like it a lot tho and it still fits to the rest, so yay :D
> 
> I already know what I want to write for the next chapter :D the problem I have is, I don’t know how yet… as always :D But I’ll get this x3
> 
> A thanks to Stevo who proofread my grammar shit :D
> 
> See ya next time :D
> 
> NO EMOJI


	9. Fake

The ambiance of Max's room was filled from the gradient of the new day and showed a sleeping brunette lying calmly in her bed, tightly hugging her stuffed animal. The sound of the growing traffic in the girl's dorm's corridor did its best to disturb the silent peace, which was originally present in the brunettes little area.

A few quiet knocks on the door weren't enough to draw Max out of her slumber. Just as the next turn of raps appeared louder, the sleeping girl slowly opened her eyes and gazed at the ceiling above her.

She let go of Captain that was tucked her fangs to stretch her arms and feet away from her body along with a long yawn escaping from her mouth.

_Ugh.. Is it morning already?_

Not fully awake yet, the freckled girl shut her eyes close and tried to rub the sleepiness away.

_How long did it take for me to fall asleep? Shit, I don't know. I could easily nap another 2 hours, as tired as I feel._

She opened her eyes again at the same time as another louder wall of knocks hit against her door, this time followed with a voice.

“Max? Hello? You in there?”

_Oh man seriously? Who wants something from me this early? I'm still in zombie mode._

“Yeah. One moment,” Max answered and slowly crawled to the edge of her bed, sitting there for a moment longer.

_Fuck, I don't feel like dealing with anyone today. Can't I just stay here, pretending to be sick or something?_

After finalizing her thought, the brunette stood up to walk to her door and slowly opened it. “Oh. Morning Dana.”

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” greeted the other brunette with a warm smirk on her lips, her hair hanging down to her shoulders.

_Uhm.. what?_

“Sleepy.. head?” asked Max quietly.

This allowed the taller girl to escape a chuckle. “Yes, sleepyhead! It's past nine-thirty and in fact, you are still in your jammies.”

_Uhh..?_

“..okay?” Max looked down on herself and raised her head again with a confused expression.

The other brunette sighed with amusement, “I see you're not quite awake yet,” she planted both her hands on the sleepy girl's shoulders and explained warmly. ”Max, the classes start in about 20 minutes. Do you want to come late on your second day here?”

_Ohh?_

_Ohhh, school! Fuck, I totally forgot for a moment. After the shit that happened yesterday with Chl.._

Her shoulders sunk down a bit while she closed her eyes for a few seconds.

_..Chloe._

_Fuck!_

The hands on the freckled girl's shoulders tightened.

_Anyway, Dana is right. I shouldn't be late on my second day here. Even if I don't feel like going to bullcrap classes today. I don't need more drama with the teachers on top of this._

“Hey, are you alright, Max?” asked Dana worryingly and took a closer look at the smaller girl, “Do you feel okay?”

_Shit. Am I that obvious? I should get my act together or else everyone will asked me what's wrong. I so don't need that.. And I don't want them to be worried about me and my fuck ups._

_Alright, Max. Knock your shit off and smile!_

The freckled girl exhaled the remaining air in her lungs and raised her head to face Dana with a tiny smile, “Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't have the best slumber this night, I guess.”

Dana slightly tilted her head as she meets the shorter girl's eyes.

“Are you sure?” she asked with a hint of worry, squeezing her shoulders.

_Ugh.. No Dana, I'm not._

Max nodded slightly. “Yeah. All I need is a moment to splash some water in my face. That's all.”

Dana observed the shy brunette a moment longer before she released the smaller girl from her grip, “Alright. I'll wait in my room until you're ready, so we can go together. Kay?”

_I rather want to go alone to be honest.._

“Okay,” Replied Max and took a step back to close the door. “See you in a bit.”

She turned around, let her back fall at the door she just shut and pressed both hands at her face.

_Oh man, how can I survive this whole day? Such a bullshit. I don't feel like dealing with school crap or talking to anyone at all._

_..Damnit._

Her index fingers gently massaged against both sides of her temple.

_But there's no helping. Like Dana said, I'm still new here. I can't afford to risk my scholarship by pretending to be sick. Also I don't want people to be concerned and constantly asking if I'm alright._

_And the worst apocalyptic thing would be mum. If she finds out, she would set hell on fire and bombard me with “motherly love” to no end. Sooner or later her mom sensors most likely spot my being sick act anyway. And then I'm dead as fuck._

An audible sigh escaped the freckled girl as she pushed herself away from the door.

_Face it, Max. You have no other choice but to go out there and play it all cool._

_Sigh.. okay, i should hurry my ass already, otherwise Dana will also be too late because of me._

As Max used the momentum she got to move to the closet at her left, she almost stumbled over her clothes from yesterday, which were lying as a messy pile on the floor.

_Argh.. shit. Damn you stupid clothes._

_Well, my own fault for throwing them lazily there. Not like I cared very much yesterday.._

_Anyway, I think I only need my tooth cleaning stuff, since there's no time to shower. Good thing that I don't have the drive to make myself all clean and shiny in the first place._

Grabbing her tooth cleaning items, she exited her dorm room and walked over to the showers. She stopped right before the entrance, enclosed the door handle with her hand, but hesitated to open.

_So far so good. I didn't bump into anyone. I hope there's nobody in there too._

With that final thought the freckled girl pushed down the handle and gently pressed the door to the showers open and stepped in.

_Aaand of course there's someone in there. Insert big groan._

With her gaze directed at the ground, she made her way to one of the free sinks, ignoring the darker toned girl with glasses and long black hair.

_At least she's cleaning her teeth too, so she can't talk to me._

“G'dmomng,” mumbled the girl with the brush between her lips.

_..except that I guess._

“Hey.” Replied Max simply and dropped some of the crème on her own brush, wetting it with some water right after.

She closed her eyes, propping herself with one arm on the sink and began the cleaning job on her teeth.

_Fuck, I'm so tired. I feel like I slept only 2 hours top. I can't even remember that I changed into my sleeping gear. It's all such a blur._

_Mom must be worried too. There's no way she bought my excuses yesterday. At least she got the signs and didn't question it any further._

A hint of a smile formed on the brunette's lips, still moving the brush against her teeth.

_Thank you Mom. I'm sorry for lying to you. Please don't be mad. I know I'm not a good daughter. It's just.. I can't talk to you about that._

_Heh, like, “Hey Mom, remember when we left Arcadia Bay? You remember Chloe right? Well I didn't stay in contact with her, because I'm a fucking coward. And now she..”_

She spat out the remaining foam with the help of some water and stayed aimlessly with her eyes on the white ceramic below.

_Now she.._

“You are Max, right?” asked a voice to her left.

“Huh?” the freckled girl blinked a few times.

_Argh, crap. Why do you have to speak as soon as you are able to?_

She turned her head towards the voice. “Uhm yes, sorry. I'm Max.”

_Mh, I think I've seen her before. Don't we share a class? What was her name again?_

“And you are.. uhh..” continued Max to stutter.

_Shit I can't remember._

“Stella,” answered the black haired girl with a giggle. “You must have had a wild night, didn't you?”

_Fuck. Does she have to do small talk now?_

“Something like that,” Max simply replied, not meeting her eyes.

“I bet,” another giggle escaped Stella. “Must be pretty nice to have the most popular girl at school all for yourself.”

_All for.. what? Most popular girl?_

The shy brunette threw a puzzled look at her. “W..what do you mean?”

“Oh c'mon. Don't play dumb,” She adjusted her glasses before she crossed her arms, shifting her weight to the other leg, “Everyone saw Rachel and you together yesterday morning. And if that's not enough, you both came back here arm-in-arm in the evening,” a mischievous grin started to form on Stella's lips. “It's pretty obvious if you ask me.”

_Fuck me! Are you cereal? I don't need any fucking bullcrap rumors right now._

Max grabbed her right elbow with her left hand. _“_ It's not like that..” she tried to defend herself.

_Is Rachel really that popular? It would make sense, thinking about her fan club groupies yesterday. She also seems to know almost everyone here._

“It's not?” questioned the dark haired girl. ”How else do I have to take it then?”

“Uhm..” stammered Max, trying to avoid the other girls eyes.

_Good question.. shit. What do I say now? For sure I can't tell the truth about the junkyard._

_Aaargh, FUCK! I don't want to deal with this right now!_

“..we are just friends,” the freckled girl tried to explain, not meeting Stella's eyes. “She only showed me the school yesterday. And..”

Stella waited a while after Max stopped to speak mid-sentence, “And?”

_And nothing! Ugh.. can't you leave me alone, please?_

Again, the darker toned girl broke the silence as she grabbed her bathroom supplies, “Alright, I get it. It's not my business.”

_Oh man.. is she mad now? One more fuck up on your long list, Max._

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..” Max wanted to apologize as she got interrupted by Stella.

“It's cool.” She threw a grin at the brunette as she continued to speak, “My lips are sealed! See you later in class, Max,” and she exited the shower room.

_Sealed? What the eff does she mean with that now?_

_When did this all got so complicated? Last week I was all hyped and couldn't wait to go to Blackwell. And now I wish I never would have come back to Arcadia Bay. This all sucks major ass._

She pulled the faucet, splashed some water into her face and leaned at the sink with her hands while looking at her image in the mirror.

_Heh. Puffy eyes, shitty eye bags, messed up hair.. At least I do look how I feel. Can't expect anything else after crying all night and lack of sleep.._

_Not like I don't deserve it. As Chloe said, I'm a fucking traitor._

_God she was so mad. Even exploded on Rachel, who has no fault at all for this shit. She got her rage on as soon as she saw me.._

_I wish I could change all of that. If I only had said one fucking word in all the years! Nothing of this would have had happened._

_..Is this true? Maybe she hated me as soon as I left. Maybe I didn't had a chance to fix this in the first place._

_..However, now it is too late for that for sure. I don't know how I possibly could make this right again._

_I.. I don't know what to do at all anymore. Going to class feels so pointless now.._

The lonely girl stood there for some moments, filled her lungs with fresh air only to let it out again audibly, as she still looked at herself in the mirror.

_Fuck, crying also doesn't bring me any further._

_I should get ready for shitty classes._

She switched off the faucet, grabbed her tooth brushing items and made her way to the exit.

_..But first I have to emergency pee._

 

* * *

 

 Max let the door fall closed with a click behind her, as she returned back to her room.

_Phew. That was dangerously close._

She put back the cleaning items to its previous place and turned her head slightly to the right to look at the clothes in her wardrobe.

 _Mmh.. I'm not in the mood to wear a fancy outfit today. I think my stuff from yesterday will do just fine. Simple, i_ _nconspicuous and not drawing much attention. Yep sounds perfect._

She walked to the pile of greys she stumbled over earlier and began to change.

_I hope the teachers will leave me alone today. I don't need to embarrass myself in front of everyone with stuttering or giving the wrong answers. Would suck ass.. well, more than usual._

_Mhh, which classes do I have today anyway?_

With her pajama perfectly thrown on the bed, the brunette finished changing, grabbed her messenger bag from the ground, where she left it yesterday and looked at the class schedule which is taped on the side of the closet next to the door.

_Oh yay, first is World History, then Algebra. How exciting.. perfect opportunity to catch some more sleep there! ..If I am lucky._

_And after that I have Photo Lab and Life Drawing. At least half of the schedule doesn't suck._

_Okay, with that out of the way I should get going already. So no more stalling, Max. Go out there and try to survive the day somehow._

Done as she thought, the brunette left her room, walked down the empty hall in a hurry and knocked on Dana's door a few times.

“It's open. Come in!” said the voice inside.

The freckled girl pulled the handle down and stepped inside of the cheerleader's domain. Scanning the room, Max spotted her sitting on the couch, legs crossed and tapping things into her smartphone.

_Going with open hair today? Suits you._

“Hey Dana. Sorry for the wait,” apologized the shy brunette.

“It's cool,” the other girl looked up with a sympathetic smile and put her phone away. “We still have some time. Shouldn't be a problem if we hurry a bit.”

“Okay,” replied Max, turned around and was about to leave the room again.

“Stop. Wait a second, Max,” ordered Dana suddenly. “Can you come here for a moment?”

_Uhh, why? I thought we should hurry.. Not that I really want to._

The freckled girl did another turn and walked towards the other brunette, who was now standing next to her bed, waving at the smaller girl with something in her hand.

_A comb? Because of my messy hair?_

_..Sigh._

“Uhm.. it's okay, you don't have to..” said Max unsure, now standing in front of the other girl.

“I say this only once, Max,” began Dana with a determined tone, looking sternly at the smaller girl. “You will not leave this room with that chaos on top of your head.”

_Shit! I seriously must have alarmed Dana's fashion senses. Guess there's no backing out here, Max._

“Alright, fine,” exhaled Max audibly, turned around and closed her eyes.

“Smart girl,” chuckled the cheerleader and began to brush through Max's hair, “Have you ever thought about letting it grow longer?”

_Yay! More small talk!_

“Uhm, no. Not really,” answered the shy girl, opening her eyes again.

“I think it would look cute on you,” explained Dana cheerfully, “You wouldn't be able to get rid of all the boys out there.”

_Yeah sure. As if. It's still me we are talking about._

“Yeah, no thanks,” replied Max, “I like the status quo of my hair.”

“Of course you do,” The taller brunette finished brushing the hair and threw the comb at her bed, “Now that I had my hands on it!”

“That's not..” Started the smaller girl.

_Relax, Max. She was joking._

“ _Thanks,” she finished with a tiny smile._

“You're welcome,” Dana grabbed her bag from the chair, “Let's go. We should be fine if we speed up a bit.”

 

* * *

 

 The silence between both girls only got interrupted by the chirping of the birds and the few cars driving by, as they walked in a fast pace to Blackwell's main building. Dana was the first who arrived at the door and hold it open for the smaller brunette.

As both girls barely entered the empty main hall with just a few steps, the school bell begun to rang.

_Ahh fuck, stupid bell. So close!_

“I'm sorry Dana. I didn't want you to get in trouble because of me,” apologized Max as they hurried to the middle of the hall.

“Don't be ridiculous Max. No one gets in trouble for being late a few minutes.” reassured the cheerleader. “At least for the first few time,” she added quickly.

“Okay,” Max replied simply while looking around.

_I hope you're right. If it stays by a few minutes for me. Which way was the class again? Fuck, Kate showed me everything during the break yesterday. If I only weren't so tired._

“Do you know where you have to go?” asked Dana as she saw the smaller girl searching around.

_I think it was this way upstairs._

“Uhm.. yes, I'm good. Thank you, Dana,” answered Max with a smile, turning her gaze towards her.

“Alright, I'll catch you later then.” The taller brunette waved, turned around and walked away with big steps.

Max supported her messenger bag with one hand as she rushed through the corridor towards the stairs.

_Man, I hope I remember that right. Maybe it would have been better if I would have asked Dana._

Arriving upstairs, the brunette looked to her left and right as she searched for the right room.

_It should be somewhere here. I think it was more in the middle of.. yeah there! Where the door is open?_

_Yep the board says History room and according to the noise the teacher still isn't here yet.. At least you have some luck today, Max. The only thing you have to do now is going in, find a seat and ignore everything around you._

She carefully entered the room and immediately searched for a free place to sit down.

_Damn is it crowded in here. What do I expect tho? I'm not the only student and everyone else probably prefer to arrive on time. Ugh and now I draw all the attention because I am late. Fuck! Can you all look away please?_

“Over here, Max!” She heard a voice between all chattering and saw a waving blonde as she looked at the direction of the source.

_Kate? Oh right, we share this class. Aww and it's seems like she defended a place next to her for me. And also it's in the last corner. Sweet Kate, you're the best, you know that?_

As the freckled girl walked to Kate with a sunken head, she couldn't help but to notice the whispers and stares directed at her.

_Why do they talk about me? Has this something to do with what Stella said? The Rachel is popular blabla? Fuck and I thought Victoria would be the problem for rumors, but I managed this all by myself, somehow.._

“Hey Kate,” greeted Max as she stood next to the blonde girl.

_Ehh fuck it! Let them talk, I have bigger problems right now. Ignore mode on._

“Good morning,” replied Kate with her usual warm smile on her lips, her expression softened as she took a closer look at the brunette. “Are you okay?”

_Sigh._

Max slung off her bag, placed it next to the table and sat down on the free chair. She closed her eyes and rubbed them a few times.

_I know you're probably worried because I look fuckin awful, but this is nothing I can talk about even with you. I only want to be left alone. I'm sorry Kate._

“I'm fine. Just had a shitty night of sleep.” She opened her eyes again and threw a smile at the bun girl.

“I see,” Kate replied, still having her soft expression.

Max leaned towards her bag on the ground. She opened it, grabbed her notepad and pencil case to place it on the table.

“You're lucky the teacher is also late,” stated Kate as the mentoined person entered the room.

_I so fuckin am, yep._

“Guess even I have luck sometimes,” the freckled girl dryly said.

_Man he looks grumpy.. Must be one of the dragon type teachers. Gnaah, that probably means no time to sleep._

_I'm so dead._

 

* * *

 

 After the last class was finally over, the brunette packed her stuff together, exited the classroom and was on the move out of Blackwell.

_Thank god that it's over. Now I can lock myself into my room for the rest of the day. Guess I was lucky that all teacher ignored me as much as I ignored them. Didn't give me time to doze tho. Well I have enough time for that now. I only have to get back to my dorm. Fast!_

Max made her way towards the entrance of the building, along with many other students.

_Heh, wouldn't surprise me if Rachel jumps into my back all of the sudden, as soon as I step outside._

_Hm.. now that I mention her, I haven't seen her today at all. Is she maybe.. avoiding me? Was I rude to her yesterday?_

She grabbed the handle of the door, pushed it open and left the building. She was greeted by a blue sky with a few clouds, the noise of the leaving crowd and warm sunlight on her skin.

Ignoring all that, the freckled girl focused her gaze to the ground and directly walked in the direction of the dormitories.

_Fuck, I bet I offended her! No wonder, thinking of how much I ignored her yesterday. If that's not enough I told her to leave me alone. That WAS fucking rude of you, Max! Yet she was nothing but sweet and caring, despite getting her own beat down._

_FUCK!_

_I should.._

“Hey Max,” greeted a female voice hesitantly from the side.

“Hey,” replied Max, still absent, before she looked up and her eyes grew wide.

_Holy.. Chloe?_

“S'up?” asked the blue haired girl with her hands in the pockets and an unsure expression on her face.

_Uhm.. okay.. WHAT?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings people! 
> 
> Yep I'm still alive and though I maybe should give you something to read again :D how nice of me, right?
> 
> Truth is, I had half of it written already, then my 3 weeks vacation got in the way, where I did literally everything except to write haha :D sorry for that x3
> 
> The hiatus got me a bit out of things of the fanfic, but I will get back to it eventually :D I must say, I am surprised that the chapter got the length it has tbh haha
> 
> I know this chapter and the last weren't funny. That was on purpose because I wanted to achieve something specific with them. Imo I did it with the last chapter, but I am not sure with this one. However, I'm glad I have finished them both now, they weren't easy to get down as I thought they would. :D 
> 
> The part with dana usually was planned longer, I wanted to fill the walk to Blackwell with a bit of conversation, but I couldn't think of something good, so I made it that they just walk in silence :D I hope I don't degrade her to some fashion maniac for Max, that's not my intention.
> 
> The part with Kate is also a bit short, for the same reason basically. I find hat it fits the chapter in a way, so sorry but not sorry :P 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked it nevertheless :D
> 
> A thanks to Stevo, who read through my many mistakes again x3
> 
> I plan to get one more chapter out this year, but I won't promise anything. Sorry x3
> 
> See you next time :D
> 
> NO EMOJI


	10. Falling back

_Okay. Recap._

_Chloe said, 'S’up'. I said, 'not much'. She said, 'cool'. I said, 'yeah'. She said, 'can we talk'. I said, 'okay'. She said, 'maybe somewhere else'. I said, 'sure'. She said, 'follow me'. I said, 'alright'._

_And now we’re sitting in her truck, driving to who knows where and haven’t spoken a freaking single word._

_..WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?_

_Okay, Max.. calm down._

_She doesn’t seem to be mad at all. Maybe.. I can say something? Should I say something?_

_Guess anything is better than just sitting here and staring at my bag on my lap. But what could I possibly say to her? “Sorry for leave you hanging for almost 5 years. We cool now tho?”_

Max slightly turned her head and tried to glance with the corner of her eyes towards Chloe at the driver seat.

_God no, at the end I probably will piss her off again. She would kill me right in the truck._

_Or maybe not.. she said she wanted to talk, so perhaps it’s the best to wait and see what happens?_

_..Gnaahh shit, I don’t know! This silence is killing me!_

“So..” started the brunette, tightening the grip on her bag while looking down at it.

“Yeah?” shot Chloe back a bit too fast, still focused on driving the car.

“Uhm..” Max's eyes nervously wandered through the cabin of the vehicle.

_You fucking kidding me, brain? I didn’t want to say something! Why you act on your own? Whyyy?_

“.. nice car you have here.” Max stuttered quietly, playing with her hands nervously as she pressed her eyes shut.

_Seriously Caulfield? That’s the best you got? This is bad, this is very very bad._

“Yeah, isn’t it?” answered the blue haired girl, taking a quick look at Max, “Figured the retro style would be to your geek taste.”

The freckled girl turned her head towards Chloe, glancing directly at her, “Excuse me? Am I the one who driving _this_ said retro car?”

“Please girl,” Chloe chuckled, “Knowing you I bet you still use your old instant camera. There’s no way you can compare me with your nerd level.”

“Yes, right,” replied Max with a smile on her lips and twisted her head again to look out of the front window, “Your blue hair literally screams _I’m not a hipster_ all over.”

“Smartass! Don’t distract because I hit right on the mark,” she took a quick glance towards Max, resting one arm lose at the seat beside her.

_Okay, I think it’s good we’re joking with each other. Does that mean she's for real not pissed anymore?_

The freckled girl adjusted her position to sit more relaxed and looked out of the window.

_I hope so.. Otherwise that would mean she drives me somewhere just to kill me with no witnesses.._

_..Wait! That house.. Didn’t we came across that street before?_

“Chloe? Where exactly are we heading?” the brunette asked curiously.

Before Chloe had the chance to answer, Max’s stomach grumbled loudly, making her blush little.

_Ugh crap.. do you have to growl so loud belly? First my brain, now you betray me. I sense a conspiracy against me!_

“Damn. That sounds like you could munch a cow,” said Chloe with amusement after saw how the other girls face was glowing red. ”Guess next stop is wherever we can get you some food.”

“M..my treat,” the blue haired girl added quickly.

* * *

 

 “Thank you, Chloe,” Max said as the taller girl brought a big plate full of fries along with two Cokes and placed it all on the table.

_First Chinese noodles, now a chip stand near the beach. Who would have though there are other food sources besides Two Whales here? World shattered._

Chloe sat down at the opposite side of the table and snagged some fries.

“Hey! You thief!” the freckled girl protested and pulled the plate closer to herself.

“What?” You should thank me!” she shoved a chip into her mouth, “This isn’t the healthiest food. It will only make you fat.”

Max also grabbed some fries herself, “The stall _you_ dragged me to does not exactly have the most selection of delicious grub,” and ate them as she finished speaking.

_My god they do taste like haven. I didn’t realize how hungry I am. Not like it’s a big surprise, I haven’t eaten anything since.._

_Holy fuck! Since lunchtime yesterday!_

“Everything’s better than the mush at Blackwell,” the bluenette said, putting her hands behind her head and gazing at the cloudy sky.

Max looked up towards the other girl.

“Mhnow dwo yoh gnohw dzat?” she tried to ask with a full mouth.

“Easy, girl,” Chloe chuckled and briefly glanced at the smaller girl, without removing from her position, “I swear I won’t steal anything more.”

The brunette eagerly gulped the mass down with the help of some Coke and turned slightly red. ”Sorry, I haven’t eaten something in forever.”

“Clearly,” grinned Chloe.

“How do you know how the glorious food of Blackwell tastes?” the freckled girl asked with a curious expression. “Do you uhm.. also go to Blackwell?”

“ _Did_ go,” the blue haired girl leaned a bit forward and laid her arms on the table, her eyes directed at Max. “Long story short, the principal is an asshole who only cares about cash, so shit happened and boom, no Blackwell for Chloe anymore.”

“Really? He did make an alright impression as Rachel bumped into him,” explained Max while grabbing another load of fries.

_Oh shit. Was it bad to mention Rachel? Is she still mad at her?_

“That’s Rachel for you,” Chloe said in a neutral tone, focusing on the straw in her coke as she played with the cup a bit. “She has a way with peeps.”

_Phew.. no raging, that’s good._

“How do you know her?” asked Chloe, raising her head again while putting the straw in her mouth to drink.

This time the brunette finished eating and took another sip from the drink before she spoke.

“I don’t know. She just suddenly was kind of there and bumped into me,” she focused on the plate with fries, flushing slightly.

_Literally._

“Figures,” the taller girl replied, stretching her left arm towards the chips and grabbed some.

“No!” protested the freckled girl with a shocked expression, “You said you won’t steal anymore! You even swore!”

“You should know better. Never trust a pirate!” shrugged the bluenette with a smirk on her lips, “Plus I paid for it anyway.”

“You said you treat me!” Max shot back, covering her food with both hands with and impish smile on her lips.

“And that’s what I did,” replied Chloe and tried to steal some more fries.

“It’s a matter of principle!” the brunette pointed out as she tried to defend her food.

“Right. In the principle, I was the one who paid for the food,” argued the taller girl with a mocking grin, “So quit stalling and more sharing, hippie!”

“Groan. Fine!” Max rolled her eyes dramatically while she pushed the plate to the middle of the table. “You win, Captain Chloe.”

“Yess! Time to nosh!” the bluenette declared cheerfully as she reached for some fries, same as Max.

_This is ridiculous. I sit here with Chloe like nothing happened. We’re joking and mocking each other like we always did. Does that mean everything is alright again? It certainly does feel good though, but.._

_But it would be nice to actually hear it from her._

_Should I say a word? Or should I just enjoy the moment with her?_

Suddenly, Chloe threw her arms in the air and shouted cheerfully, “Man, this is so awesome!”

Taken by surprise, the brunette looked up towards the other girl, “What?”

“Duh!” Chloe laid her hands on the table again and had a huge grin on her lips as she looked directly at Max. “My best friend from 5 years ago is back, so you, me and Rachel finally can hang out together of course! This will be hella rad!”

_Did she just call me “best friend”? Wowser.. I can’t say how cool and awesome this is! Man I can’t describe how happy that makes me!_

_..But_

_..on the other side it somehow also feels so.. odd and wrong after what happened yesterday._

_I don’t think I can ignore that._

_Fuck.._

The smaller girl took a deep breath before she looked into the other pair of blue eyes. “Chloe?”

“Yes, Max?” Chloe replied as she looked back to the other girl. “Wow. What’s with that intense face? Something wrong?”

“What about yesterday?” asked the shy girl with a worried expression, “You wanted to talk about that, right?”

The blue haired girl broke the eye contact by looking to the side and remained silent.

Max's eyes were still focused on the other girl. “Chloe?”

The taller girl closed her eyes.

“Look,” she began to speak with an audible sigh, “I.. I’m.. Fuck!”

_Should I?_

After another moment of silence, Max hesitated to ask, “Are you.. uhh.. are you still mad at me?”

“No!” Chloe blurted out, turning her head to get eye contact, “No, of course I’m not!”

_Really? Thank god.. hearing it actually is a huge relief._

“I feel like shit because of that, okay?” continued the taller girl, saying it a bit too aggressive which made the brunette flinch a little.

_She.. she does? Why? Even if she isn’t mad at me, she still had every right to hyper rage at me.._

“Fuck, sorry,” she apologized immediately. “Can we go for a walk? I need to blaze a little, then I’ll explain. Cool?”

_She feels like shit? Why? Now I’m curious._

“Cool.”

* * *

 The sand of the beach reflected the light of the sinking sun as both girls walked slowly side by side along the coast. Chloe took another drag from her joint, which was already halfway smoked, whereas Max switched between sipping and bubbling her Coke.

_Here we are again, not saying a word, just walking next to each other._

_Better this than not hanging out at all. I’m badshit curious what the fuck her explanation is. After yesterday I didn’t think she would ever want to talk to me again, yet she’s here with me._

_Whatever reasons she had, I deserved that beat down for what I did.. or actually didn’t do._

The freckled girl turned her head to the left to take a longing look at Chloe.

_God I only realize now how much she has changed. Short blue hair, going full punk rock style, a fancy beanie. But even with all that, she still feels like the Chloe I knew. I’m pretty fucking glad about that._

As they came across a bench, Chloe took the last drag of the remaining joint, letting the rest of it fall onto the sand and then she sat down.

“What a nice sunset,” she stated.

The brunette threw the empty cup into the trashcan and also took a seat on the bench, placing the bag next to her.

“Yeah, agreed.”

“Heh, I bet all your photo nerd senses are triggered by that view,” mocked the bluenette, poking the other girl gently with her elbow.

“I’m not exactly in a picture taking mood right now,” she simply replied, but couldn’t hold back a smile.

“Right, sorry.” Chloe adjusted her beanie, leaning forward and exhaled the remaining air in her lungs. “I guess I really did rage out hardcore yesterday.”

_Yeah. I can’t blame you for that._

“The funny thing is, I actually was happy to see you,” she admitted, staring down at the sand.

_What?_

Taken by surprise, Max tilted her head, looking at the bluenette with wide eyes.

“You were happy?” she asked quietly.

“Duh! Of course!” Chloe leaned back, facing the other girl, “Seeing you again after all this time is a huge plus after everything went down to shit.”

“I thought I fucked it all up,” her voice was low as Max stared down at the sand and played with her hands. ”After I left and didn’t stay in contact, I thought I screwed it all up.”

“I won’t lie. It sucked major ass you had to leave so soon after my dad died,” the blue haired girl admitted while she looked into the sunset, “I hated it. Maybe even hated you for a while. But I never blamed you, Max.

“I find that hard to believe,” responded Max in a low tone.

They both didn’t say a word for a while, before the freckled girl decided to break the silence.

“Still, I should have kept in touch with you. No excuses, I fucked that one up pretty badly,” she said quietly, still looking down at her lap, “I’m sorry.”

_As if a simple sorry ever can be enough.._

“Don’t gimme that crap,” Chloe gently bumped into Max's shoulder with her own. “You’re here again, that’s what matters. No more mushy guilty talk, you hear me?”

That made the smaller girl chuckle, “No? Or what?”

“Or I personally beat your butt back to Seattle!” Chloe answered while she bumped into Max's shoulder again, this time with slightly more force.

“You wish,” the other girl replied more cheerfully, “You’re stuck with me now. No refund this time.”

_Okay Max, you heard he. She isn’t mad and she forgave you. Guilt tripping myself more about this will not bring anything. Just be glad it ended up like this._

_Now the question is, why the eff did she snapped that hard yesterday?_

The brunette adjusted herself on the bench, “So.. uhm.. what exactly was the deal yesterday?”

Chloe reached out to her beanie to take it off. “A bunch of reasons, I guess,” and placed it into her jacket pocket. “Did you have the not pleasure to meet David Madsen yet?”

“Uhh.. no?” Max replied slightly confused. ”Who’s that?”

“Just the biggest asshole on Earth. Sooner or later you will run into him. He’s a security guard at your school. Don’t worry, you can’t miss him and his huge pornstache,” explained the taller girl.

_Pornstache? Should I google this?_

_..EEWWW! No Max! Bad Max!_

“More importantly, he’s also my step dadhole,” she finished, sounding aggressive.

“Joyce is married again?” asked the freckled girl with surprise and tilted her head to Chloe.

“Unfortunately,” the bluenette let out a sigh, “I don’t know what mom sees in that dick, but I hated him from the moment he took the first step into our home. He’s always on the warpath with me, giving me shit for every little thing he dislikes.

“Fucking asshole” she added while she crossed her arms.

“Man, that sounds fucked up. Is it really that bad?” asked Max, “I do believe you of course.”

“You have no idea,” replied Chloe and closed her eyes for a moment, “Anyway, Monday evening Rachel and I chilled at my room. The actual plan was to bail later and hang out at the junkyard. But instead she said her plans had changed and she had to leave earlier.”

_Monday evening? That was when.._

The blue haired girl brought out a pack of cigarettes, “At first I was pissed, but she promised to make it up the next day.” She grabbed one grit and put it between her lips, “So because I stayed at home I had to participate in our all so lovely family dinner,” as the lighter lit up the cigarette, she took a drag and blew out the smoke before she continued, “Just me, mom and David. As you can imagine, it turned out pretty ugly.”

“Yeah,” Max replied briefly as she closed the zipper of her grey hoodie.

“The next day Rachel messaged me to meet her at our hideout, saying she has found “some booty” she wants to show me,” the cigarette became shorter as Chloe took another drag. “I was about to head there as I ran into David, of course. He tried to fucking lecture me for the shit on the day before. 'I have to act like an adult, not like a loser blablabla.' Fucking prick.” She leaned forward and supported her weight with her arms resting on her legs, “I don’t know for how long we shouted at each other before he finally let me go. I was hella pissed as I arrived at the junkyard. The only thing I wanted to do was to chillax and forget about all this shit.”

_And then she saw me, who abandoned her.._

After a moment of silence, she again put the cig between her lips and continued, “You know, over the years the junkyard became somewhat like a safe escape spot for Rachel and me. When I saw that she brought someone else to our place, I wasn’t pleased at first.” Her voice began to tremble a bit. ”When I realized it was you, I _was_ happy.. but..”

“It’s okay Chloe,” the freckled girl put an arm on Chloe’s shoulder, “I understand.”

The blue haired girl dripped off the last remnants of the ash and let the burnt down cigarette fall to the ground, before she turned her head to look at the brunette. ”I’m sorry Max. I didn’t mean to explode on you. I was pissed because of David and seeing you there brought back all the memories from the past.” She looked away and tried to not meet the other pair of blue eyes. “And when I realized Rachel left earlier to hang out with you I finally lost my shit.”

_Oh man.. this.. this is crazy shit._

“I.. I don’t know what to say, Chloe,” the smaller girl shook her head slightly . “I had no idea. I thought there was zero chance that we ever talk again after yesterday.”

“Yeah, me too, actually. Rachel had to convince me to hit you up,” admitted Chloe, running a hand through her hair and continued with a chuckle. “With 'convince' I mean she gave me an epic beat down this morning.”

_She did?_

“We have to thank her for that,” stated Max as she looked into the almost vanished sunset.

“Unfortunately, she has that annoying ability to be right almost every time,” sighed the taller girl and pressed her back into bench again. “I probably shouldn’t block her number anymore.”

“Almost every time?” asked the brunette with amusement.

“Believe it or not, I won an argument once or twice!” she claimed pridefully.

“Or let you win,” said Max with a grin.

“Don’t underestimate me, hippie!” she shot back and smiled herself.

Both girls started to laugh, before they fell into silence again. They enjoyed the last rays the sunlight on their skin, until the sun finally vanished below the horizon.

“It’s getting chilly.” Max let out a big yawn and stretched her arms into the air. “I should probably head back to my dorm, Chloe.”

“Tired already? The day has just started!” she grabbed her beanie out of the pocket to put it on her head again.

“I haven’t gotten the most sleep last night.” Max replied in a simply manner.

_And it was a pretty fucking long day. I’m glad it all turned out well with Chloe in the end. And I absolutely have to thank Rachel for that._

“Hey. How about a sleepover at my place?” suggested Chloe suddenly, sounding all excited. “You know, to celebrate and shit! Common! We haven’t done that in forever!”

_Sleepover? That would be fun, but.._

“I have to go to school tomorrow,” argued the brunette and opening her bag. “Besides, I probably will fall asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.”

“Blabla excuses crap! I’ll drive you to school!”

_Haha, look at her, all hyped up._

“Fine.. why the fuck not.” Max agreed and pulled out her camera and slid directly next to Chloe, “Speaking of celebration. Smile!”

_I will look soo freaking awful at that picture, but fuck it!_

“Hella yes!” the bluenette cheered while moving her head closer to the other girl.

A flash lit up as the freckled girl pressed the trigger down. She grabbed the photo to shake it as usual.

_I always want to remember that day._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings human folks :D
> 
> I’m actually surprised how that chapter turned out. Way longer than I imagined. I didn’t thought it would be that easy to write too. Not that it was easy at all, normal actually haha :D  
> For the dynamic between Max and Chloe I looked a compilation of all scenes of them both in the game. I hopefully got it at least a bit right haha :D 
> 
> As I see it and what I like about their interaction between each other is, they have this playfully mocking each other thing going on which neither of them is offended by it.  
> Maybe I overdid it a bit, with Max and Chloe here, I dunno. I just think it’s a different way of fun I can bring into this fic. If it was fun. That’s for you all to decide :D
> 
> As for the explanation why Chloe freaked out, I hope it is understandable why she raged out so much. I actually asked MaiQueti (who in my opinion nails her in her fanfics) at the beginning of my fic if she thinks Chloe would freak out more in the game if Rachel was alive.
> 
> She said she don’t think she would react other than in the game. So I had to come up with a good reason for her beat down an Max and Rachel :D
> 
> A big thank you to Stevo again! The grammar mistakes where real hardcore this time xD I kind feel bad for that haha 
> 
> Anyway Next chapter will probably take a while to be released.
> 
> See you all then :D
> 
> NO EMOJI


	11. Good times

Max slowly opened her eyes and stretched her limbs while a quiet yawn escaped her lips. Still lying in the unfamiliar bed, she looked around, only to find herself in a strange yet well-known ambience. As the sleepy girl moved her gaze to the right, she found the blue haired girl peacefully sleeping next to her.

Letting her hands rest on her stomach, she observed the bluenette for a few moments, then turned her head into a comfortable position and looked at the ceiling above her.

_It still feels like a dream. All the time I spent thinking about how to approach Chloe. How I possibly could make it up._

_Heh, to see now how it eventually turned out. Just one word: Crazy._

_Who would have thought that Chloe and Rachel know each other? The first person I met here also knows my best friend from five years ago._

_Like I said: Crazy._

She bent her right leg and shut her eys close.

_Would I have had the courage to talk to Chloe without Rachel? All on my own?_

_I think.. No probably not. I’m not as bold as her. Most likely I would have found more and more excuses until it would have been too late. Exactly like I did before._

A sigh escaped from the brunette as she opened her eyes again, looking aimlessly around the ceiling.

_Rachel makes it look so easy. She doesn’t hesitate. She just do things straight on._

_Heck, according to Chloe, she even confronted her head on, despite Chloe giving her a final boss beat down the day before._

_All I did was crying and feeling sorry for my own ass._

_And again, Rachel was there for me without hesitation or any questions asked. I don’t know if a simple “Thank you” will ever be enough for what she did for me. For both me and Chloe._

_I know I repeat myself: Crazy!_

_..Heh, that seems to be the word of the day._

She moved her head to her right again to face the still sleeping blue haired girl.

_For cereal, I’m glad Chloe found such a good friend when I wasn’t there for her. I admit, I’m a bit jealous. I maybe can’t reach Rachel’s level, but from now on I will do my best to not to fuck up again. Pirate's promise!_

As Max stretched her arms and legs a second time, she couldn’t hold back another yawn at the same time.

_Okay, time to get up. I still need to get ready for school. What time is it anyway?_

She carefully slid to the edge of the bed, placed both her feet on the ground and took a look around the room.

_Where did I throw my bag? This is kind of like those picture puzzles. Hehe, it’s still as messy as ever here. Plus, Chloe gave it a new touch with all the graffiti and posters. It feels so nostalgic seeing how much yet so little has changed._

_The desk is still next to the window and at the opposite side is the blue shelf. Obviously, the wardrobe didn’t move either. Would be kind of hard to move that huge hole in the wall. Some of the posters are like the ones in Rachel’s dorm. Figures that they have similar tastes, if they hang out together so much._

_..No, stop it, Max. Don’t even go down the jealous route. Focus on your mission instead. Rider of the lost booty-bag, so to say._

_Can’t be that hard to find.._

She continued to scan around the room with her eyes

_..Hah, got you!_

_Why are you so far away? Mean bag! Now a whip would really be handy._

Her eyes moved back and forth between the bag next to the chair on the desk and her feet in front of the bed.

_Maybe I can reach with my foot, if I stretch myself a little?_

_..God no, Max! You can’t be that lazy! And you have to get out of the bed sooner or later anyway. You already had that plan just a minute ago!_

Putting her hands on each side of the bed next to her, the freckled girl gently pushed herself up and tip toed the few steps over to her photography-bag.

_Only to cut my lazy side some slack, school is never a good motivator for getting out of the sleeping zone. Booya._

The bag now placed on the desk, she opened it to search for her phone.

_Where are you my sweet sweet phone? You don’t need to hide. I even have candy. I only want to check the time.. aaand maybe check some messages. It won’t hurt!_

_..Shit, I can’t find it. Did I lose it? I haven’t used it all day yesterday, so I couldn’t forget it at the 5-star chips stand or the beach. The last time I can remember seeing it.._

_..Oh crap, right! I threw it away at my dorm after the call with mom. Even worse, I was supposed to call her back yesterday. Fuck, how could I forget that?_

_This is bad, Max. How can you play with your life so easily? I hope she hasn’t mobilized the National Guard by now._

_Okay, I need to do damage control on that later. Now I still need to figure out how late it is. This can’t be an impossible mission. Maybe Chloe has a clock hidden somewhere?_

_Not like I need an excuse to snoop around a bit. Hehe._

_So let’s see. Where would she hide a clock from me?_

_Nope, no chance on the laptop here. It isn’t running and it maybe would wake her up if I switch it on._

_Also nothing under that totally uninteresting pile of paper, which only are either paper with scribbles or just boring papers because yawn. Good thing I checked that!_

Max turned around carefully and walked silently to the blue shelf on the other side of the room.

_One.. two.. three.. and the winner is.._

Opening the left drawer, she picked up some papers which are lying on top of everything.

_Oh man. I remember these drawings. We always imagined us as some kind of super-heroes or detectives or whatever. Always having big time adventures. I can’t believe she kept them all this years._

“Nosy as ever,” said a sleepy voice behind her.

“Have to keep my reputation,” replied the brunette, putting the drawings back into the drawer and turned around.

_Holy shit! That’s some serious big tattoo. How could I not notice that by now?_

“Smart ass,” shot Chloe back as she yawned and stretched herself. “I can’t believe you knocked out so fast.”

“Told you,” Max said, shifting her weight to the other leg. “I was so close from turning into a zombie.”

“No joke. I didn’t wanted to break it to you, but you looked awful yesterday,” replied the tattooed girl. She smiled. “Not so much anymore.”

“Yeah, no Walking Dead special episode for you,” joked the freckled girl.

“Good. That means I can put away my emergency anti-zombie bat,” Chloe replied amusedly. “Soo, did you find what you were searching for? Or did you just snoop around because you're Max?”

“I wish,” sighed the short girl, “I forgot my phone at my dorm. Do you know what time it is?”

“Sure. We don’t want the schoolgirl to run late, do we?” said Chloe and leaned to the side.

“Not if I want to live a little longer,” the brunette sighed. “Mom would set hell on fire because I didn’t call her yesterday.”

“She’s still protective as ever,” grinned the blue haired girl while grabbing her phone from the pile of clothes next to the bed. “It’s a miracle that she let her little girl out, all alone into the whole wide world.”

_Okay, I thought about my own phone, the laptop and basically every angle of this room to find a clock. I think it’s safe to say that her phone was way too obvious to think of, or even to find._

“On point. That’s why I need to call her. Asap!” Max replied, rubbing over her face with her right hand. “If it’s cool that I use your phone downstairs.”

“Make yourself feel at home,” Chloe slid her thumb along the screen before she looked at it. “Drumroll! The magical number of the hour is 8:48.”

_Nice, still time._

“Good,” grinned the freckled girl and walked over to her clothes to pick them up, “Then I will take a shower now, at _my_ residence.”

“Gives me time for my own morning ritual,” said Chloe before she let herself fall back onto the bed and added in a sarcastic voice, “Only if your _highness_ gives me permission, of course.”

Max raised her head, not looking towards the other girl and only waved approvingly with her hand. She walked out of Chloe’s room and walked the short distance to the bathroom. She closed the door and locked it with an audible click.

_Thank dog, finally shower time. This, plus the nice slumber I got will make me a whole new Max! Heh, a new max life bar, so to say._

_I think Chloe wouldn’t mind if I use her cleaning stuff and towel. Not like she has much of a say anyway._

Letting the clothes in her arms fall to the ground, she stepped in front of the shower and got rid of the remaining fabric she was wearing.

_I wonder.. If this was a movie, would there be a cut now?_

 

* * *

 

_Clean, fresh and well rested. That’s what I call a good start in the day._

Armored with her gray hoodie and blue jeans again, Max walked back to Chloe’s room, only to find it empty with no sight of the taller girl.

_Hm, she must already be downstairs, if she hasn’t escaped because she feared zombie Max after all. Or she was afraid of an alien attack. You never know when they will come to conquer our world. Another situation where a whip would be handy._

_Well, I better look for her. She has to give me a ride after all._

The brunette grabbed her bag from the desk after she closed it, walked out the room and went down the stairs. As she turned around the corner, a pin board hanging at the wall coughed her attention.

_Even the small photo wall is still there. Maybe there are some new photos._

_Yep, there are many from Chloe. Heh she still has her long blonde hair in them._

_If I wouldn’t had left, would she still have blue hair? Or would she have kept it longer? Has Rachel suggested to try some new things? Would she have even met Rachel?_

_Man, this all kinda sucks in a way._

“What’cha looking at, dude?” appeared Chloe’s voice next to the photographer. “You stand there like you’re frozen in time.”

“Nothing,” Max replied, still looking at the pictures. “Just taking a Chloe history lesson.”

“Uhh,” the bluenette crossed her arms. “Learning something interesting?”

“Nah. Just boring lecture, as always,” said Max, turning her attention to the other girl. “Thought I noticed you look a little bit different now.”

“No shit? Must be your nerd photographer eyes, which spot the little details,” Chloe let out a chuckle. “Now c’mon, Mom and step dick are gone already. You can call your mom and I’ll make breakfast for us while you get a serious grounding session.”

“Groan. Don’t joke about that. The apocalypse is real and very near,” frowned Max as she walked to the phone while Chloe vanished into the kitchen.

_Okay Max, this is it. The fate of your future lies in this one phone call._

She picked up the receiver and dialed the numbers into the phone.

_With some luck you’re only dead for half of your life._

The expected toots were to hear for a few times before a deep voice answered on the other line. “This is the Caulfields. Hello?”

_Yes, Score! It’s Dad! No offense Mom, but he's definitely easier to deal with._

“Hey Dad, it’s me, Max,” said the brunette with a slight relieve in her voice.

“Hey kid,” he answered. “Good you’re giving us a call. Your mother is very worried about you. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah I am,” she rounded some of the telephone cable around her index finger. “How deep into trouble am I?”

A chuckle was heard on the other line. “Not more than usual. Lucky for you that I could prevent your mother from calling your principal.”

_Moooom.._

“I see. Thank you, Dad,” said the relieved freckled girl. “Sorry for calling so late. I'm actually calling from Chloe’s home right now. You still know her, don’t you?”

“The little troublemaker? Of course I remember her,” Max’s father said amusingly. “She always got my little girl into shenanigans.”

“Daaaad!” she frowned and let go of the cable to touch her forehead.

“Say how is she and Joyce doing?” he asked after he let out a few loud laughs.

“Chloe is alright. I haven’t met Joyce yet. Apparently she is married again,” Max answered while she peeked around the corner to look at the clock.

“Good for her,” he simply answered with joy in his voice.

_'Chloe horror stories' tells another thing._

“Yeah,” Max said barely audible, “Sorry Dad, I have to end the call now. I don’t want to be late at school. Please tell Mom I’ll text her later.”

“Will do. Stay safe, kiddo.” He replied, “And say hi to the little troublemaker and Joyce for us.”

“Bye, Dad,” the brunette rolled with her eyes and hung up the phone.

_Well, that went better than expected. Good thing he took the week off because I moved to Arcadia. Seems like you’ll live a little bit longer, Max. Mental note to myself, text Mom later._

“Greetings from my folks,” the smaller girl walked to the table and placed her bag on a chair.

“Say hi back,” replied Chloe, who already sat at the table and played with her phone.

“Alright. I’ll just use my secret telepathy powers I developed over the years,” she answered sarcastically and sat down.

“Hah! I knew the hipster appearance is just a façade,” grinned the blue haired girl while she chose a song from her library, adjusted the volume and placed her phone on the table. “What other superpower do you have in store?”

“Hmm,” pondered Max as she grabbed the milk and mixed them with the cornflakes, which are already in the bowl. “I can make food vanish. You know, like poof! Gone!”

“Boring,” the tattooed girl clicked with her tongue, “You always had that power. Nothing new.”

“Like your cooking skills,” shot the brunette back amusingly. “Cornflakes with milk are not exactly my understanding of ‘making breakfast’.”

“Don’t confuse laziness with skills, girl,” she placed one foot at the chair and slung one arm around the backrest. “The big city must have spoiled you pretty hard.”

“Not really,” the freckled girl replied and poked with the spoon into the mixture of milk and cornflakes. “It was cool, but I had a hard time to Seattle in.”

_Hehe._

“Tsk.” Chloe huffed, a weak smile formed on her lips. “Hella change for little Max?”

“You know me. Shy and quiet are not the best traits for moving to a new location,” she explained before she ate a big load of cereal.

_Or finding new friends._

“Being back here...,” Max continued as she looked around with her lips forming to a grin, “...is actually a cereal nostalgic trip,” and she took another bite of her breakfast.

“My god,” the other girl rolled with her eyes. “Someone has to stop you before this is getting out of control.”

“Alwady doo lwate,” smirked Max with a full mouth.

_It’s nice to just lay back and fool around a bit. Maybe some of the things I missed most all that time._

“So, what’s the school girl’s plan for today?” Chloe asked, leaning forward and putting her arms on the table. “Want to hang out later, too?”

“I don’t know,” letting the spoon fall into the empty bowl, the freckled girl leaned back. “I have a shitload of homework to do, since someone kidnapped me away.”

“Laaame,” frowned the bluenette.

“I’m not complaining, Chloe. Just stating facts,” the smaller girl defended herself. “It was so cool to spend time with you again.”

“Exactly why I need to keep you away from all this artsy fartsy geeks from Blackwell.” Chloe claimed excitingly. “Common, dude!”

_Man, she’s so hyped about that, I don’t think she takes 'no' as an answer. I know it sucks and I don’t want to disappoint her. So much to not fuck this up again._

Max didn’t respond. Instead she took Chloe’s phone, which is still playing music and unlocked the screen.

_..She has a pic of Rachel and herself as background? She really must have had a huge impact on Chloe._

_Is it normal that I’m glad and jealous at the same time?_

The freckled girl swung with her fingers through Chloe’s phone, typed some things into it. With a smile she stretched her hand out and showed the other girl the screen.

“Okay?” Max simply asked.

The bluenette grabbed her phone from Max and needed a moment to read it.

“First, I must give you the 'Chloe no-go sign of approval for emojis'. That abuse has to stop!” she responded with a smile with her attention still on the phone. “Second, peace offer accepted, nerd.”

_Aaaand situation defused. Look at her, doing all disappointed and pouty but still smiles big time._

_I just have to.._

The brunette reached over to her bag, put out her old Polaroid and pointed the lens towards Chloe. She waited a moment to find the best possible moment, until finally a flash appeared out of the camera.

“Dude!” Chloe turned her attention back to the other girl with a relaxed expression, “At least give me a heads-up warning.”

“Duh! That would ruin the moment!” explained Max, while she shook the photo a few times and put it with her camera on the table.

“Didn't change at all,” snickered the taller girl, playing with her spoon in the empty bowl. “I remember you telling the same thing as a tween.”

“The truth hasn't changed since then,” the brunette put her elbows on the table and laid her head onto her hands.

“You were in love with that thing from moment zero,” a grin appeared on the bluenettes lips.

“My dad had to put away the camera so I wouldn't use up all the film in one go,” Max snickered.

“Not just once,” pointed Chloe out while she adjusted her beanie. “I always had to cheer you up afterwards.”

“Yeah.” She looked at the other pair of blue eyes and began to chuckle. “You made up so many crazy stuff. Most of them got us into trouble, tho.”

_Haha. Like Dad said, little troublemaker._

“Do I hear some complaining here?” the tattooed girl protested, crossing her arms. “As far as I know, it worked every time.”

“Just getting nostalgic. I wouldn't dare to complain about Wonder-Chloe,” answered the freckled girl as she closed her eyes for some moments. “It was a fun time back then.”

“You make it sound like the fun is already over,” claimed Chloe, putting her hands on the table. “We're just getting started, now that you are back! 'Rachel, Max and Chloe vs the world' is a thing, you know?”

_Heh, it's cute how she is so hyped about us three rocking shit together. Like she was yesterday._

“Before we make world domination plans, I should take care of school duty first,” Max stated as she checked the time on the clock hanging on the wall. “I think it's time to roll out, Chloe.”

“Aww man, really? That's sucks,” sighed the tattooed girl as grabbed her phone and paused the music after a brief moment. “Alright. If you're so eager to get your ass to Blackwell.”

“More like I have to,” corrected the shorter girl.

She grabbed the photo she took earlier to put it into her bag, but hesitated. Her lips formed a smile as she stared at the picture for a moment.

_Always remember the smiling moments._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said next chapter will take a while. Fortunately I had the time to write a small thingy \o/ But next chapter will really take a while now :D haha
> 
> This chapter was hell of difficult to write. It has gone smooth until the shower cut. The part to Max showing Chloe what she typed into the display was always okay, but man the last part took me forever to come up with something.
> 
> After rereading it, it feels not as sucky as it was before haha :D
> 
> Nothing much else to say to this chapter, except that it was nice to write something harmless again. It was a nice change after that more heavy stuff (for my circumstances) lately. 
> 
> Somehow it’s difficult for me to write Max and Chloe together, because I want their dynamic being similar to the game. I think that somewhat blocks me from being all free and fluid as I write the conversation between them. So I feel like this chapter is maybe a bit more boring than my other ones. But that’s for you all to decide, not me :D
> 
> In that regard, please leave a comment if you want to x3
> 
> Seeing how much difficulty I had to write this time, it's a good thing if I take little break from writing now :) 
> 
> Thanks again to Stevo who helped me with proof reading again, and listened to my rambling about the chapter not turning out good :D and giving me some advice :D
> 
> Until next time folks :D
> 
> NO EMOJI


	12. Missed

“And, here we are,” said Chloe as she stopped the truck in front of Blackwell Academy.

“Big wohoo to the fun part of the day,” sighed the student while unlocking the seat belt.

“Not too late to skip today,” the blue haired girl turned her head towards Max. “One word and we’re outta here faster than the Millennium Falcon.”

The smaller girl chuckled, “I don’t think your rusty truck can do the Kessel Run faster than twelve parsecs.”

“Please,” Chloe clicked with her tongue, “This badass here never left me hanging since I got it.”

“Guess that’s what you call ‘trusty rusty’,” commented the brunette while swinging the strap of her bag over her shoulder.

Chloe raised an eyebrow, “Who on earth ever called something ‘trusty rusty’?”

_Hmm.._

“We? Now? I guess,” shrugged Max with a grin on her lips.

“I swear,” Chloe started to speak as she shook her head, “Seattle has done something very strange to you.”

“Don’t blame me if you’re not cool enough to use fancy new words!” claimed the brunette and stretched her tongue out.

“Don’t confuse cool with nerdy, girl,” replied the taller girl, her lips forming a smirk.

“Says the girl with the blue hair,” grinned Max amusingly.

“Again, don’t confuse cool with nerdy!” repeated Chloe with a grin.

_Whatever you say, nerd!_

“However, I should get on track,” said the brunette with a hint of disappointment, slipping towards the other girl with open arms. “Thank you for the lift, Chloe.”

“Trusty rusty anytime,” the blunette replied as she embraced the offer and hugged back.

_I know I shouldn’t be worried anymore, but this hug.. it feels like the final touch that Chloe and I are cereally cool again._

_Should have done that earlier._

“Ugh. Tap out, Max,” said Chloe suddenly as she gently pat on the freckled girl's shoulders and slowly loosened the grip. “You win this wrestling match.”

_Shit, I probably hugged a bit too hard._

“Sorry,” she apologized and gazed at the ground and showing a weak smile.

“I’m still in one piece!” joked the taller girl after a short moment of silence. “Can’t blame you tho. Chloe hugs are special!”

_Agree._

Max chuckled as she slipped away from the bluenette. She opened the door and stepped out of the truck.

“Have fun with the artsy fartsy elites of Arcadia,” wished Chloe in a sarcastic tone.

”I’ll show them who is boss! See you tomorrow, Chloe,” replied the brunette with a smile and shut the door of the car.

She waved a few times at the other girl as she drove away before she turned around to go up the stairs, which led to the front yard of Blackwell’s main building.

_Okay, let’s check my mental to-do list._

_First priority is my phone. Getting that back is a matter of survival. Not only to distract me from boring teacher blabla’s, I also need to check messages and absolutely have to text back Mom before hell will freeze all over. That’s the most important point for sure!_

_Next I need to find Rachel and gave her a serious thanks for.. basically, well, fucking everything. It’s kind of surprising she hasn’t just appeared at Chloe’s lair overnight. Like sneaking in through the window in the middle of the night, giving us a surprise heart attack when we wake up._

_..Nah, she wouldn’t do.._

_..That’s totally a Rachel thing. One hundred percent yep that she would do something like that._

As she walked through the yard, aiming to go to her dorm, the photographer student spotted a familiar timid girl sitting against a tree. Max changed her direction and walked towards the blonde, who is currently focused on reading.

_Aww look at Kate. How cute she is. So absorbed in her book. Not even noticing me. She also wears her hair open again today._

_Max, you don’t get a photo op like that every day! I have to be extra sneaky peeky here to catch her tho. One wrong move and you will shy her.._

_..Wtf am I thinking? Kate isn’t a wild animal!_

_However, I have to be careful. Slow and patient wins the run to.. uhm.. whatever._

_Ugh.. Just take the freaking pic already!_

The photographer carefully stepped closer to the blonde girl, grabbed her old camera out of her bag and took the picture as soon as she felt ready.

_Got’cha!_

Taken by surprise, the timid girl blinked a few times and searched in confusion for the source of the sudden flash.

_Heh, she doesn’t know what just happened to her. You’re too adorable!_

“Good morning, Kate,” greeted the brunette, stored the Polaroid and her camera away and walked closer to the other girl.

“Oh. Hey, Max!” the blondes face lit up as she saw who approached her. “You scared me a bit.”

“Sorry. I didn’t intend to!” the freckled girl sat down cross legged in front of Kate. “I can’t hold myself back sometimes.”

_Okay, most of the time._

_..More like never._

“Oh, I know.” The timid girl’s lips formed a subtle smirk, “Beautiful things, right?”

_Gnaah! That will follow me a while, I guess._

_But nice as I am, I tolerate that sass. You’re welcome, Kate._

The short haired girl shrugged with her shoulders. “I already admitted it, so no need to hold myself back.”

_Aaaand sassed back! Heh!_

_Wait, could this be misunderstood? It couldn’t, right? Or.. could it?_

Kate hold her hand over her mouth and chuckled visibly.

_Crap!_

The blonde placed the bookmark on the page she stopped reading, closed the book and put it aside.

“You look better today,” she smiled at the girl in front of her.

_Phew. No damage done, I guess._

“As I do feel,” Max returned the smile, then her expression changed to a slightly sad one. “S..sorry if I was kind of rude or anything yesterday.”

“Not at all, Max!” the timid blonde shook her head. “I said it before, if you need to talk, I’m here.”

The brunette turned her attention to the grass at the ground.

_True. I think there’s no harm done if I give Kate a crash course of what happened._

“Okay,” she started and plucked some grass she was staring at. “In short, I had a rough time with a friend, that’s why I was down. But we talked and now everything is alright.”

“I’m glad.” Kate nodded and threw a warm smile. ”Your friend must be really important to you.”

“Yeah,” answered the freckled girl, her gaze became somewhat dreamy.

_Of course. She’s basically the only friend I had in my childhood. We’ve done so much stuff together. And, she always had my back, no matter what. How can she not be important to me?_

_Someday, I’ll tell you the whole story, Kate. Promise._

”I was a bit worried to be honest,” said Kate. “You weren’t at your dorm and you didn’t reply to my message either.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” apologized Max as she got pulled out of her mind. “I kinda got hijacked after class and forgot my phone at the dorm.”

“I see,” replied the long haired blonde. “Rachel also asked for you. She seemed to be a bit worried.”

_She did? She should know that I was with Chloe. She gave the push to her in the first place._

_Hmm.. maybe she was worried how it turned out. Well, I will find out when I catch her anyway._

“Thanks, Kate. I’ll give her an update later,” the brunette confirmed.

Kate nodded in response and grabbed her phone out of her pocket to peek at it. “I think we should get going, Max. Classes are about to start soon.”

_Already? Shit._

_Guess my phone objective has to wait for later._

_My own fault when I let myself get distracted so easily. I blame you and your cute absorbed reading expression, Kate! You hear me?_

_..probably she can’t, because, well, no mind reading superpowers. As far as I know._

“Good call,” the brunette pushed herself off the ground to stand up and offered a hand to the other girl. “Next stop, Blackwell’s halls of knowledge.”

Kate snickered as she accepted the gesture.

“I just hope we won’t get much more homework,” exclaimed Max as they both made their way to the main hall. “I didn’t have time to get anything done yet.”

_Not to mention that Mr. Grumpy Dragon gave us a shitload of work in the first place. That dude should chill. It’s just the first week._

_On top of that is algebra stuff too. History and number shenanigans are a bad combination._

_I also didn’t pay much attention to classes anyway, which makes things even worse. Ugh._

“I could help you,” Kate suggested quietly.

Max turned her head to look at the timid girl. “Seriously?”

“I mean, only if you want,” she nodded. “I have some of it done already. We could do the rest together.”

_Score!_

“That would be awesome!” replied the brunette while opening the entrance.

“Mmh. We only have to do it during lunch break, if that is okay with you,” the long haired girl said with uncertainty. “I have something else to do after school.”

“I’m totally in!” Max replied as she entered the hall right behind the other girl.

_Hehe. Literally._

“Thanks, Kate,” she added.

“You’re welcome, Max,” remarked the timid blonde happily and walked a few steps into the hall, before she noticed that Max didn’t catch up to her.

“Max?” Kate turned around and saw her standing frozen in front of the door.

“Uhm..” stuttered the brunette with confused wide eyes.

_ Shit! I have no clue what classes I have today! What the fuck am I doing now? _

“..I have a problem.”

 

* * *

 

 

_Dog, what a day so far._

The bell of the final class for today had rang a while ago. Enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin, Max took her time to stroll to the dormitories.

_It started so cool by waking up at Chloe’s home again and then with meeting Kate before school. Like perfectested start to a day, ever._

_Then I freaking had to forget that I have my schedule only on my phone and at the closet in my room! Biggest face palm of the day, Max!_

_Good thing Kate and I had the first class together! Probably the first time I can say that English saved my ass._

_And as if Kate haven’t done enough yet, she also had the genius idea to ask for my schedule at the administration office._

_Now I only needed to rush there after English, stutter a lot and embarrass myself once more and only be 10 minutes late to next class!_

_Heavy luck that Ms. Grant was super chill about that. No big drama. She just said I know better next time and shrugged it off. Plus her classes are pretty fun too! Tho, I’m not much into science voodoo._

_Maybe that would change if we learn how to craft a color bomb, so I can smack that into Victoria’s face!_

_What is with her shit that I’m wearing the same stuff the third day in a row? Who even pays attention to crap like that?_

_I bet my death stare did scare her.. most likely not one bit at all. Ugh!_

Arriving at the dorm’s field, she didn’t pay much attention to the other students and walked straight to the entrance.

_Whatever, Max. Don’t let that get you down. After all, it’s a good day so far. Science and Photo classes were fun. Kate helped me with some of our homework, as she said she would. And most importantly, I’m still cool with Chloe!_

_Only thing to do now is to find Rachel already._

_You could think she’s easy to find, if she’s really as popular as it seems, but nope. Not a single trace of her yet. Not that I looked for her at all. Which.. is so shitty of you, Max! I owe her so fucking much._

_I should get on track and check if she’s at her dorm first. I’m almost there and who knows, maybe I have luck!_

Max entered the dormitories and speed up the pace a little as she climbed up the stairs. Arriving at her section of the building, she walked to the first door on the left.

_Okay Max, here it goes. Hope you have your speech prepared._

_Well.. Basically thanking a fuckton._

The freckled girl raised her hand and knocked a few times at the door.

It didn’t take long before the door opened, revealing the familiar blonde behind it.

“Hey Rachel,” greeted Max with a smile.

“Oh. It’s you,” Rachel said simply in a neutral tone. “What do you want?”

_What do I..? Uhm?_

“I.. uhh..” stuttered the brunette. “I wanted t..”

“Wanted what?” she interrupted the freckled girl, sounding annoyed.

_What the..? What’s going on?_

“Are you.. is everything alright, Rachel?” asked Max unsure with a confused expression.

“Why shouldn’t everything be alright?” replied the blonde aggressively, glaring at the brunette. “You have your fucking best friend back, don’t you?”

_What?_

“Uhhm.. jeah.. but,” Max stammered with a visibly confused expression.

“See, everything’s just wonderful,” barked Rachel with a raised voice and was about to close the door again. “Have a nice day.”

_I.. I.._

_..What is this?_

“Rachel, wait!” called the freckled girl as she took a step forward.

The blonde immediately opened the door again.

“Don’t you get it, Max?” She shouted at the other girl, “Leave me the fuck alone!” and slammed the door shut.

_What the.._

She took a step back, still staring at the closed door.

_..actual.. fuck?_

_Have I missed something?_

“Hey!” appeared a voice behind her. “Can’t you leave your personal drama for yourself?”

_Ugh, shit!_

“Some people are trying to study, if you don’t mind!” shouted another voice annoyed from the other end of the corridor.

_I.. fuck!_

_I better get on the move before they all come out to bark on me._

Not paying any more attention to the others, Max hurried to her room with a lowered head, her eyes fixated on the ground. Almost arriving at her door, someone stepped in her way.

“Trouble in paradise?” asked the pixie blonde standing there crossed-arm with a smirk.

_Fuck, not you now._

The freckled girl ignored Victoria and walked past her. As she unlocked it, she noticed that something is written on her slate.

_Who..? I didn’t write anything on it yet._

‘ _Accept donations for new clothes.’_

_Oh fuck me._

“You're welcome,” said the short haired blonde as she noticed where the freckled girl is looking at.

_Just fuck you, Bitchtoria._

The brunette finally opened her door, stepped in and immediately locked it again behind her. She let herself fall back and leaned against the closed entrance.

_Okay, at least I’m safe for now._

_So, what the fuck was that with Rachel? Why is she so mad at me?_

_Is it because I ignored her most of the time at our way back from the junkyard? Or because I sent her out of my room later that day? I knew that was rude of me._

_No, that doesn’t make sense. If so, why did she say ‘best friend’ like that?_

“Fuck,” her head bumped against the door as the brunette swung her head back. “I don’t know..”

_I.. don’t get this at all._

_She brought Chloe and me together again in the first place._

She released a heavy sigh out of her lungs and closed her eyes, just standing there for a moment.

_..Chloe!_

Her eyes flicker open again.

_Maybe she knows something!_

Max rushed to her bed and threw the pajama on it out of the way.

_Where’s my phone? Common._

She swung her head around and scanned through the room.

_Right! The couch! I tossed it somewhere there._

Sprinting to her sofa, it doesn’t took long for her to find her mobile phone. She sat down and hastily switched it on.

_Good, now only the pin and.. ugh shit! Typed it wrong!_

_..Okay. Easy, Max. Just chill for a second. You’re way too much in hyper mode right now. Relax and get a clear head again._

The brunette sat down on her couch and leaned forward, her arms resting on her knees. As she unlocked her phone on the second try, it didn’t take long for the missed messaged she received to come in.

_Holy.. it was just one day without my phone and it’s already exploding._

Her thumb slipped and pressed at the screen.

_Damn, there are a lot from Rachel!_

_Also Kate, mom and an unknown number. That must be Chloe’s._

_Okay, probably it’s the best to look at Rachel’s first. Maybe it gives me some clue._

**Blonde Devil:** Hey Maxie x3

**Blonde Devil:** I just wanted to say again that I’m really really sorry how it all went

**Blonde Devil:** I know saying this doesn’t help much

**Blonde Devil:** I wish I could change it for the better

**Blonde Devil:** Good morning Maxie x3

**Blonde Devil:** okay, delete the good

**Blonde Devil:** I’m sorry I have some business to take care of this morning

**Blonde Devil:** I’ll check on you later tho x3

**Blonde Devil:** Hey :D

**Blonde Devil:** I heard you left school with “some blue haired punk chick”

**Blonde Devil:** that’s a good sign right? :D

**Blonde Devil:** Max?

**Blonde Devil:** are you ignoring me?

**Blonde Devil:** fuck both of you!

_Shit!_

_Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!_

_This is not good at all._

_She thinks I ignored all of her messages. Fuck!_

_No wonder she’s raging like hell._

Max rubbed her forehead as she goes through the messages once again.

_This is bad._

_I have to do something!_

_But what? I don’t think it’s a good idea to knock on her door again. If it goes like earlier, she wouldn’t let me speak a second, I guess._

_Only sending her a messag back could look like ass too._

_Shit.. I think I need some help._

_Where is Chloe’s..?_

**Unknown number:** _*2* *Whale* *Calendar* *Arrowright* *M* *Y* *Money*_

**Unknown number:** say yes :)

**Unknown number:** I was serious with the emoji abuse.

**Unknown number:** Just to be clear nerd

_Download Emoji’s? Heh, definitely yep!_

_Ugh, don’t smirk, Max! Now’s not the time for that!_

**Max:** Chloe!!!

**Max:** you there?

**Max:** Emergency alert!

_I hope Chloe will read this fast. In the meanwhile I can.._

The freckled girl adjusted herself on the couch while she leaned back on it. Her hands fly through the screen and typed a few things in. It didn’t take long until the message sound appeared out of the device.

**Chloe x3:** What up dude? Suddenly need a rescue ride out of Shitwell?

**Chloe x3:** Chance over I would say

**Max:** I wish.

**Max:** I wanted to talk to Rachel, but she’s gone full berserk on me

**Max:** I think she’s mad because she thinks I ignored her hardcore.

**Max:** Halp!!

**Max:** Have you talked to her today?

**Chloe x3:** Nada

**Chloe x3:** still blocking her

**Max:** Chloe!!

**Chloe x3:** What dude? I just forgot it, okay?

A sigh escaped from the brunette.

**Max:** Whatevs

**Max:** I don’t know what to do now. Try to talk to her again or send her a message?

**Max:** Maybe something else?

**Max:** You know her better than me.

**Chloe x3:** How bad was it? Did she let you speak at all?

**Max:** zero chance

**Chloe x3:** Shit

**Chloe x3:** She’s stubborn as fuck sometimes

**Chloe x3:** Rachel handling rule #1: if she’s in demon mode, let her cool off

**Chloe x3:** nothing much we can do now Max

_For real? That’s shit._

**Max:** Me not like!

**Chloe:** Me neither. Sry that’s how the law is

**Max:** Kay got it

**Max:** Waiting and praying for now

**Max:** Thanks wonder blue :)

**Max:** will give you an update if anything changes

**Chloe x3:** You’re welcome, abuser of emojis

**Chloe x3:** I wasn’t kidding, that has to stop

_Hopefully Chloe is right and Rachel only need to cool off._

_..Still._

_I don’t like only sitting on my butt and doing nothing at all._

She switched back to the chat with Rachel on her phone.

_Let’s hope I haven’t used all of my luck for this year yet._

**Max:** I’m so fucking sorry Rachel

**Max:** I wasn’t ignoring you I swear

**Max:** I turned my phone off and forgot it at my dorm. then I went with chloe and I wasn’t able to see your messages until now

**Max:** It wasn’t on purpose!

**Max:** Please answer me, okay?

_Ugh, it sounds so lame. Hopefully it doesn’t make things worse._

_Guess I will find out sooner or later. Now it’s too late anyway._

Max let out another sigh.

_This is giving me a serious headache._

_I better answer my other messages and then let’s get some Max chillax time._

**Kate:** Max, are you okay?  _I’m worried. You looked not good today and you are not at your room._

_Kate.._

**Max:** x3 x3 x3

_You deserve way more hearts than that!_

_Okay, next is mom._

**Mom:** Sweety, I’m worried. You didn’t write me yet.

**Mom:** And I only get the mailbox if I try call you.

**Mom:** I know something is going on, so please talk to me Maxine!

**Mom:** I’m worried!

Max lips showed a tiny smile.

_I know Mom. Sorry for being so troublesome this week._

**Max:** I’m fine now Mom :)

**Max:** I talked to dad earlier today. You already know that probably

**Max:** Love you xoxomaxo

_Good, I should be fine now._

Max switched her phone to standby and put it on the desk next to the couch.

_Relaxing time!_

She slid the bag off her shoulder and let it lay on the couch, as she stood up from the couch to go to her bed. Letting herself fall into the soft mattress, she stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before she closed her eyes.

 

* * *

 

 

Mild tunes filled the ambiance of the room. Max sat on her desk with her phone next to the history book. The dark outside already chased away the warm sunlight of the day.

_Man, even with the stuff Kate helped me with, it’s still unreal how much homework this still is. Way to exaggerate, Mr. Grumpy Dragon._

_Groan._

_Doesn’t help that I can’t focus much on it.._

As a yawn escaped her, the freckled girl glanced at her phone.

_Must be the hundredth time I look at it the past hours._

She put the pen aside, leaned back on her chair and grabbed the device once again.

_Damn. It’s already past 10:30 pm. And no reaction from Rachel yet._

_Maybe wasn’t a good idea to text her back after all. I should have listened to Chloe. I only mad.._

Suddenly her phone started to vibrate in her hand. She used her thumb to wipe across the screen.

_It’s from Rachel!_

The brunette leaned forward again and pressed one more time on the phone to get to the message on screen.

**Blonde Devil:** Can you come up to the roof?

_T..That’s it? Nothing more?_

_Ugh, damn! I can’t tell if she’s still angry or not just with that!_

_And why the roof? At this time?_

She switched her phone to standby, closed the book on her desk and stood up from her chair.

_ Guess I have to break the law to find out. _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup everyone? Still like me? :D No?
> 
> I must say, the short break from writing really did good to me. I could get my head clear again and focused on other stuff in the meanwhile, like catching up to a bunch of games :D
> 
> I reread my own story to get back into my fic and looking for things I would might miss to consider while I was at it. And oh gosh. I apologize to everyone who put up with my many many typos up to that point xD Good thing I have Stevo now who proofreads my grammar stuff :D like this chapter too. Thanks again to him at his point :D
> 
> This chapter was nice to write and it was fun to get down something more dorky again haha even if it wasn’t that much.  
> I was worried that I didn’t have it in me anymore tbh, because I struggled so hard with my last chapter and couldn’t come up with something good, imo.
> 
> It’s funny that, with how the fic grows, some parts develop somewhat a life on its own. With that I mean, that you have to consider a lot of peoples actions or responses in a way that fit’s the characterization you, as a writer, got them.
> 
> And as I said earlier, I had a lot to consider in this chapter. And had to double check things more than one time :D
> 
> I hope the message part near the end wasn’t too confusing. I apologize if it was (not like it’s too late now anyway xD)
> 
> I think that’s enough for now. I hope you all are looking forward to the next chapter. I certainly do :D
> 
> See you then x3
> 
> NO EMOJI


	13. Tired

Step by step the freckled brunette climbed up the stairs to the roof. In her right hand was her phone which she used as a flashlight, while she slid along the handrail with the other hand.

_Do these stairs ever end? I swear this building looks shorter on the outside than it really is._

Finally arriving at the top, a door was blocking the way to outside.

_About time you appear, old rusty looking door! That was enough sport for an entire week!_

As she pointed the flashlight to the door, she saw a big sign pinned on the wall next to it.

_Hm.. “Access only for authorized personnel”._

_Sure, as if I would turn around now after all the climbing. Besides, it is past curfew anyway, so I’m already in shit this deep._

_I’m sorry little guy with the big hand, guess you won’t stop me now._

Max took her phone into her left hand and placed the right on the handle.

_Okay, moment of truth. Let’s see what this is all about._

_I hope she isn’t still in a shouty mood, but.. I think it’s better to prepare for anything._

_Who knows if she’s still angry._

As Max pushed the handle down, she had to put some more weight against the door to press it open. With a creak revealing her arrival, she stepped outside and was greeted by the darkness around the area, only enlightened by the lanterns down in the dorm yard and the stars up in the sky.

Her eyes searched around the rooftop as she couldn’t find the blonde girl immediately.

“Rachel?” she asked with a mix of confusion and curiosity.

“You came,” Max heard a low familiar voice coming from behind her left shoulder.

The brunette turned around to the source of the voice and saw Rachel sitting on the ground, her back leaning against the wall of the building. Her eyes were directed at the ground, but not focused on anything in particular.

_No shouting. Guess that’s a good sign?_

“Of course you would,” the blonde added quietly, her lips showing a slight smile.

_Okay, I said I should prepare for anything, but this is not exactly how I expected her to be finding her up here._

_Why does she looks so..?_

_Something definitely feels not right._

The freckled girl carefully walked a step closer towards the girl on the ground. “Rachel? Are you okay?”

The blonde shrugged without any change of her expression. “Guess not.”

_Yeah, thought so._

Max turned off the light on her phone, and stored it into the pocket of her hoodie. She closed the distance between them to sit down next to the other girl’s right.

_I think it’s safe to scrap the ‘her being angry’ thing. Otherwise I would have gotten my fair share already._

_Thanks Chloe. Guess you were right._

_If I only knew what the meaning of this is. Why is she sitting here in the dark all alone?_

_I’m not sure if I should say something. She doesn’t seem very talkative right now.. and to be honest, I have no clue what to say in the first place._

_I don’t even know why she wanted me to come up here._

She closed the zipper of her grey hoodie and crossed her arms.

_To see her like this?_

“Cold?” asked Rachel, not taking her eyes away from the ground.

“Yeah,” replied the brunette, making a brief pause. “Not exactly my favorite way of chilling together.”

A chuckle escaped the blonde's lips.

_Nice one, Max. That’s a start._

Max's lips also formed a tiny smile.

_Now the next step. But carefully._

“Rachel?” the brunette gently said.

“Hmhh?” hummed the other girl.

“What.. uhm..” Max bent both of her legs towards herself. “What are you doing up here?”

“Thinking,” Rachel closed her eyes for a moment. “I always come here when I’m feeling lonely.”

_She is feeling lonely?_

_Why?_

_I mean, not that I don’t believe her. She doesn’t seem to lie, but.. it’s surprising. I thought she would have a ton of people she could go to. Dana for example._

_Or.._

_Hmm.._

_Or maybe she means ‘left out’ and not ‘lonely’? Does that make sense?_

_I know I hung with Chloe all day yesterday. And I know they both must be very close._

_Chloe wouldn’t put a picture with them together as her phone background if this wasn’t the case. But it was just a day and.._

_Shit! Chloe blocked her and I couldn’t answer her texts, because stupid me forgot the stupid phone!_

_Of course she must feel left out!_

_Fuck!_

“Rachel, I’m so sorry. I really forgo..” Max tried to apologize, but cut herself off as she saw that the other girl shook her head.

“No, it’s not that,” Rachel said gently. “I mean, yes it was this time, kind of, but.. it’s not your fault, Max.”

_It is my fault, but it’s.. not?_

“Uhm?” stammered Max, having a questioning look on her face.

“It’s.. hard to explain,” stated Rachel with a sigh.

_Yeah. Can’t deny that I’m a bit confused now._

“And it will sound ridiculous anyway,” the blonde girl added, letting out a short laugh.

_It will?_

_I’m curious now, but.. seeing her having so much trouble with it, I think it’s better not to push it._

Max uncrossed her arms to lift herself up off the ground and moved closer to the other girl.

Rachel turned her head slightly to the right. Her lips forming a tiny smile before she shifted her head back.

“Have you.. have you ever felt like you’re just being yourself, acting like usual, but it feels like you fake yourself somehow?” asked Rachel in a serious tone.

_Uhm.._

_Acting normal but feels like fake?_

_Lemme think.._

_I tried to act like I always do yesterday, so that others don’t find out that I was a fucking mess. You could call that kind of faking myself, but I did this on purpose._

_I’m not sure.. I don’t think Rachel means that._

“No,” the freckled girl answered and rubbed her right arm, “No, I don’t think so.”

“Yeah, thought so. That’s good for you,” Rachel smiled weakly as she brushed some strains of her hair behind her right ear. “It’s a pretty shit feeling.”

She bent her legs and wrapped both of her arms around them. “I don’t even know when I started to feel like that.”

The long haired girl gently rubbed one of her wrists and continued. “It’s like.. everyone just wants to see the cheerful and carefree side of me all the time.” She turned silent for a second. “Or maybe I imagine they want to, I don’t know.”

“And for some stupid reason I don’t want to disappoint and keep the act up.” Rachel pressed out another short laugh. “After all I’m the popular girl, so I have to, right?”

_Hold on a second._

The blonde closed her eyes as she added in a low tone, “Fucking pathetic, I know.”

_What exactly is she telling me?_

_Is she saying that she fakes herself to meet expectations? And at the same time, she’s still being herself?_

_That sounds like a pretty fucked up thing, if I get that right._

_I can’t even imagine._

“As I said,” spoke Rachel as the other girl remained silent, “It sounds ridiculous.”

“No. That’s not it,” the brunette raised her head to look at the blonde. “It’s just very hard to grasp.”

Rachel turned her head and looked at Max with slightly wide eyes.

_Wait a second. She said she didn’t know when she started to feel like that. Does that mean..?_

“Mhm.. may I ask?” Max hesitated, her eyes darted around the ground of the roof. “You didn’t always feel like that?”

The blonde’s eyes still rested on Max and a little smile appeared on her lips before she answered. “No. Not when I started to go to school here.”

_Okay, but.._

“..Why?” asked the freckled girl further. “I mean, what’s the difference between now and then?”

Rachel’s eyes furrowed as she turned her head away.

It took a moment for her to answer, “Not much for others, I think.”

_Uhm?_

“At some point,” continued Rachel. “The other expect you to be a certain way, if you’re always act the same. I guess.”

_Being cheerful and carefree in her case. As she said herself._

“And this made me feel like they only want to see this one side of me,” the hazel eyed girl’s voice saddened.

_Okay, I get this now, I think.._

“..but, you’re not really acting? Or do you?” asked the brunette further.

“Yes and no.” responded Rachel.

“Both?” questioned the freckled girl.

_That’s confusing as hell.._

“Yeah.” Rachel shortly answered.

_Just yeah?_

_Shit! I must have been too nosy. So much to not pushing it!_

_Why can’t you fucking read the signs, Max? You saw that she has a fucking hard time with all that._

“I’m sorry,” Max lowered her head. “I didn’t want to pry too much.”

“Don’t be, Max. It’s fine. Really.” The blonde said gently and gave the other girl a mild smile. “I’m glad you want to understand the mess in my head.”

_I try at least._

A little smile also showed up on Max's lips.

“So, do I act or not?” Rachel repeated the question, “I don’t. After all, that’s how I am and I like being that way. And,“ she paused shortly, “at the same time I do. Because I'm used to being that way around others all the time.”

_That actually makes sense. Somehow._

“Sorry,” the hazel eyed girl exhaled a deep breath, “I know it sounds stupid. I just can’t explain it any better.”

“It’s okay, Rachel,” reassured the freckled girl. “I think I get it now. Partly at least.”

“I just feel like I can’t be one-hundred percent myself,” the blonde clarified in a low tone. “It’s fucking exhausting.”

_Yeah, I bet._

_I can see that people expect her to be the happy and witty popular girl all the time._

_Or they expect it because she got popular. I don’t know._

_And because she doesn’t want to disappoint them, she keeps being like that, even if she doesn’t feel like it._

_Man, poor Rachel.. this is a big mind fuck in fuckland, to say it mildly!_

_If I have so much trouble just to understand it, how difficult must it be for her to feel like that? And who knows for how long she has been doing it by now._

_I hope I never gave her tha.._

Max got pulled out of her thoughts as she felt a hand intervening with her own. She looked to her left and saw Rachel sitting closer to her, looking up to the night sky.

“It is different with Chloe,” stated Rachel with a smile, looking up to the stars. “I really can let loose and just be me when I hang with her.”

_She can let loose when she’s with Chloe?_

_Actually.._

_Yeah, I totally agree with that. She never judged me for being shy or anything else. She just accepted how I am and got along with it._

“She’s awesome like that,” replied Max and also turned her attention to the starry sky.

“We never can tell her that,” chuckled the hazel eyed girl.

“Nope. Never ever,” replied the brunette. “Her ego will bust out of scale. Way more than it is already anyway.”

“Exactly,” agreed Rachel. “It will be even harder to hammer things in her stubborn brain. No thanks.”

_Heh. That says the right person._

“Like you’re one to talk,” the freckled girl mocked.

“Excuse me?” replied the blonde, sounding shocked.

“You’re not giving up until you get it your way,” stated Max amusingly. “I call that very stubborn too.”

“Heh! Not my fault that everyone else is too weak for me,” shot Rachel with a laugh.

_See! Always need to have the last word. I take this as my win. Boo-Ya!_

For the next few minutes, they both observed the stars, not saying a word to each other. Rachel gently caressed Max's hand with her thumb, as she was about to break the silence.

“You’re the same way,” she said simply as her other hand played with her feather earring.

_Uhh?_

_She means.._

Max turned her gaze from the sky towards the blonde. “..Stubborn?”

Rachel laughed at that response and covered her mouth with her left hand.

“No, dummy,” she still chuckled a bit when she answered. “You never gave me the vibe I have to hide something from you. Like Chloe.”

I.. never did?

“Oh.. Uhm..” the freckled girl stuttered as she changed the direction of her eyes towards the ground.

_I mean that’s a good thing of course, knowing all that now. But.._

_..I never did anything special._

“Max,” Rachel turned more quiet. “I’m sorry.”

_What? She’s sorry now?_

_Why that all of the sudden?_

The brunette saw that Rachel’s expression saddened again as she turned her attention back to her.

“For what?” asked Max curiously.

The blonde shifted her head to meet the other girl’s eyes.

“I’m sorry for shouting at you,” she said weakly.

_For shout.._

_Ohh! I almost forgot that this happened._

_That’s why we’re up here in the first place._

“It’s okay Rachel,” Max clarified as she squeezed her hand. “I’m not mad at you, Rachel.”

The hazel eyed girl exhaled a deep breath, “No, you’re not,” she broke the eye contact and looked below Max, “but you should be. It was a major bitch move.”

_I can’t deny that it wasn’t nice to be shouted at. That came out of nowhere._

“What was this all about anyway?” Max wanted to know.

“It is.. pretty dumb actually.” Rachel said. “When you and Chloe didn’t answer my texts I got scared.”

“Scared?” the brunette said with a puzzled look. “Why?”

“Because,” the blonde hardened the grip on Max's hand a little, “You and Chloe didn’t answer my texts.”

_Oh?_

_Ohhh shit!_

‘ _What was this all about anyway’.. How dumb can you be, Max? After all what she has told you._

“So I was scared that I will be the third wheel, now that you’re back,” explained the long haired girl. “Shit like that.”

O _f course!_

_Because Chloe and I didn’t answer her back she must have thought we’re ignoring her._

_..Fuck and everything just because I’m the shittiest friend ever!_

_I’m sorry Rachel. This is all a fucked up chain of events._

_She does sooo not deserve this. She has done so much for me this week and then such a stupid thing happens!_

_Ugh! This is so much bullshit!_

“I’m sorry,” the blonde apologized. “You didn’t deserve that at all.”

“Well, fuck that,” replied Max, looking at the other girl with a determined expression.

“What?” Rachel turned her head again to face the freckled girl, her eyes wide open by surprise.

“After all you have done to help me, do you really think I give a shit about that?” exclaimed Max in a serious tone, but continued more mildly. “Without your help, I probably still would take any excuse to not get in contact Chloe. Or, we most likely would still have radio-silence after the junkyard shit.”

_And, I would still pity myself for being the worst friend of all time._

_Still working on that issue tho._

“If anything..,” the brunette softened her voice some more and gave the girl next to her a smile, “..I don’t know how I can thank you enough for everything you have done for me already.”

The long haired blonde looked some moments longer at the other girl, before she slightly bumped with the back of her head against the wall behind her to look up at the stars again.

“You know..,” smiled Rachel, her voice sounding more relieved, “..you’re pretty hard to live up to, Max.”

_I am.. huh?_

“I can see why now,” the blonde added mildly.

_She can..? What?_

“Uhh..?” the brunette’s confused eyes darted across the rooftop.

“I.. want to be honest with you, Max,” Rachel still looked to the stars in the sky. “I knew you before we even met.”

_She.. what?_

_I swear, this conversation takes every opportunity to confuse me._

“You.. knew me?” the freckled girl asked perplexed, as her eyes shifted back to Rachel.

“I mean, I knew who you are,” clarified the blonde.

_Oh._

_Yeah, putting it like that, it actually makes some sense._

_She did hang out with Chloe a lot after all._

“Well, duh!” replied Max. “Chloe probably spoke a few times about me.”

_Most likely, more bad things than good things, given the situation._

“No,” Rachel shook her head. “She never said a word about you.”

_She.. didn’t?_

_..Like never?_

_I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing. However, it doesn’t matter anymore anyway._

_The question is, how else would Rachel know about me?_

_Unless.._

“I knew it all along!” grinned the freckled girl. “You must have some kind of mind reading superpowers.”

_Yep. Only explanation I can see and that makes sense._

“What?” Rachel laughed. “Don’t be silly Max! Even I don’t have such powers.”

_Heh. Even you, huh?_

“Fine,” Max chuckled a bit herself. “Then, tell me your big secret.”

“As you wish, milady,” said the hazel eyed girl with a bit of cheer in her voice. “I simply asked Joyce.”

“Joyce?” replied Max with surprise, still eyeing the girl next to her. “Why her?”

“Because Chloe would have never admitted that she’s missing you,” answered Rachel simply.

_That’s true. Back to stubborn Chloe._

_But.._

“..How did you know she’s actually missing me?” the brunette asked further.

“Mhm. Call it intuition,” the blonde made a brief pause before she spoke again. “Sometimes, when Chloe and I chillaxed together, I felt like she secretly wanted somebody else to be there.”

“Oh,” Max replied shortly and turned her gaze away.

_Is that so?_

_That’s pretty awesome in a way, not gonna lie. But.._

_..that must be a horrible feeling for Rachel.. if that’s the case?_

_I know I would feel horrible at least._

“I’m sorry,” the brunette apologized quietly, her eyes directed to the floor of the rooftop. “Because of me you must have felt like a replacement or something.”

“No, dummy,” the blonde gently bumped against Max's shoulder. “You have nothing to do with this.”

“Maybe so,” replied Max. “But still.”

_Feels shitty nonetheless._

“Anyway,” Rachel continued. “When I saw your name at the dorm list, I was curious if it is really that legendary Max Caulfield I heard so many rumors about.”

_Legendary huh? I don’t think I can live up to that._

“How did you know it was me?” asked Max as she stretched out her legs. “You didn’t know what I looked like.”

“Actually, I did,” stated Rachel, turning her eyes towards the blue eyed girl. “Joyce showed me photos of you and Chloe.”

_Really? That was enough to recognize me? I was thirteen, or even younger in those pics!_

“Have I changed that little?” mumbled the brunette in the night.

“Your cute freckles betrayed you, Maxie,” replied the hazel eyed girl with a chuckle.

_If it’s just that, I guess I can live with that._

Rachel lowered her gaze and exhaled a breath. “I hope you’re not mad about what comes next.”

_Mad? Why should I?_

_Dumb question, I will find out in a second._

Max turned her attention to the blonde again, looking at her curiously.

“When I realized it was actually the _you_ you, I decided to test you,” explained the blonde and added after a second. “A bit.”

“Test me?” repeated the brunette surprised.

_Ugh so many questions.. do I sound kind of dumb just asking stuff?_

“Yep. I wanted to see what you are all about,” Rachel started to explain. “To see if you’re worthy to see Chloe again.”

_I know that sounds pretty damn odd and I probably should be at least a bit mad, but.. I really can’t be offended by this._

“But actually these were just excuses.” The blonde continued, “In the end, I was just jealous.”

_Wait.._

“You were jealous?” blabbered Max surprised.

“Yep,” replied Rachel.

“Of me?” asked the brunette.

“Of you,” the blonde approved.

“That’s very hard to believe,” claimed Max.

_There’s nothing anyone can be jealous about me. Ever._

_And the last person would be Rachel. I mean, just look at her._

“Why?” questioned the long haired girl, looking into the blue eyes. “Max, you’re kind and smart and funny..”

“..and shy and clumsy and awkward,” finished the brunette.

“Don’t be like that, Maxie,” the hazel eyed girl squeezed her hand. “You’re amazing! You know it’s true if I am the one who says that!”

_Nice try, but nope. Not convinced._

_There must be a reason why some assholes always want to pick on me. Like Bitchtoria._

“I bet pixie ass can give you a thousand reasons against that,” exclaimed the brunette in her voice with a mix of anger and sadness.

“Victoria isn’t as bad as you might think,” stated Rachel mildly, sliding a bit closer towards Max.

_She’s not?_

_How can she say that? Victoria even gave her some shit._

“I highly doubt that to be honest,” the freckled girl responded. “Today she reached a whole new level of bitchiness.”

“I’m sorry about that, Max,” Rachel apologized. “I probably am the reason why she’s like that to you. Or Kate.”

_Wait what? What does she have to do with this?_

“Uhh, you?” Max asked confused, looking towards the girl.

“Yeah. Very long story very short, Vicky and I were friends once, then I fucked up hardcore,” the blonde laid her head gently on Max's shoulder. “I think that’s why she acts like she does towards you. To make me feel bad or something like that. I don’t know.”

_Ugh really? That’s some bullshit._

“Still,” the brunette can’t hold back a yawn. “It sounds very bitchy to me.”

“I only can say that she actually cares about her friends,” said Rachel quietly as she also let out a yawn.

_Fair enough. I’m too tired for a Victoria canonization talk right now._

_It's fine if Rachel has such an opinion about her. That doesn’t mean I must share it. She probably has her reasons to think like that._

The freckled girl slid her right hand into her hoodie pocket, took out her phone and pressed the tiny button on the side of it.

_Almost midnight. Haven’t realized how much time passed already._

“I think we should slowly head down, Rachel. It’s pretty late,” suggested the freckled girl.

_I absolutely don’t want to be a zombie again tomorrow morning. Once a week is more than enough._

“Uhm, Rachel?” Max turned her head to the left as she didn’t get any response.

_Don’t tell me.._

She found the blonde with closed eyes leaning against her shoulder with low but steady breaths.

_Is she actually slumbering?_

The freckled girl snickered quietly.

_She has some nerves, falling asleep at a place like this._

_But then again, she’s always up for a surprise, even now._

Max slid into her hoodie pocket to bring her phone out.

_Okay. Chloe probably isn’t awake anymore, but I said I’ll give her an update if anything changes._

The brunette unlocked the phone in her hand and opened the chat with Chloe.

**Max:** “insert waving emoji”

_Let’s see how you like that, since I’m not allowed to do normal emoji's._

**Max:** had a long talk with rachel

**Max:** I think everything is fine now

**Max:** *bows to your wisdom*

_ Chloe will remind me about this forever. Probably. _

Max locked the phone and put it away again as she looked up to the stars.

_Worth it tho. I don’t need any more drama for this week. Or ever._

_Now.._

She closed her eyes.

_ What do I do with the sleeping devil here? _

_ Should I wake her? Or.. _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey peeps o/
> 
> Okay, when I started this chapter, I thought it would be something around 2k, maybe 2,5 if I’m lucky. Well.. oops :D
> 
> I have to say, the beginning was very tough to write and I hope I could explain Rachel’s situation good enough for you to understand it. It is very hard to get across and explain it in full depth and I probably could have spent much more words to get to the ground of it, but I think I told you enough to form your own opinion and understanding of this :D
> 
> Overall the chapter was way more difficult to write as I thought. This chapter wandered around my mind since almost the beginning. I think something between chapter 2 and 3. So I’m more than happy that it turned out as I imagined it all the time, with everything I wanted to put into it since I got the general direction of this fic. :D
> 
> Thought the reason why Rachel shouted at Max came to me a bit later in the fic, I always wanted to have a reason why she did. I thought about stress from her parents and similar things, until I got the idea you have read now.
> 
> I hope how things come together now is still believable, because that’s always an important thing to me.  
> And I also hope it wasn’t too repetitive with all the head turns xD it’s quite difficult to write two people just sitting next to each other the whole time :D
> 
> A big thanks to Stevo again, who helped me a lot with grammar and a few other things :D
> 
> And with that, enough from me now. Have a nice time peeps :D
> 
> See ya next mission.
> 
> NO EMOJI


	14. Getting started

The buzz of her phone started to go off as the light of the new day already filled the room with its bright color.

The sound of the vibration against the nightstand gently brought Max out of her sleep. As soon as she was awaken enough, she blindly searched for the source of the alarm with her left hand and pressed against the screen as soon as she found it.

With a yawn, the freckled girl slowly opened her eyes and focused at the ceiling while she did a short stretch of all her limbs.

_Good morning new day._

_Now that’s more the way I want to wake up. Silent and peaceful. And most importantly, comfy in my bed._

“Right, Captain?” she said to her stuffed bear as she softly rubbed her eyes.

_It’s definitely more comfy than sleeping against a wall on the rooftop. I don’t think we have to debate about that._

_Sorry Rachel, but I had to wake you up for your own good. And mine._

She slid with her hands under the blanket and let her eyes wandered around the top of her room.

_Man, that was a big information blast session yesterday. Everything she told me.. I don’t really know if I got everything fully._

_I mean, how could anybody possible guess she felt like that at all?_

_I never saw a difference when she’s with me alone or with others. But then, we don’t know each other for that long anyway._

_..Guess that’s what she meant with acting._

_If I would imagine that I put up such a front all the time, I don’t think I would be able to._

The brunette pressed her eyes shut and fought against herself to yawn one more time.

_Yes yes, I know brain! That stuff is way too heavy to think about in the morning! And I probably fall asleep again if I lie down any longer._

_Okay, no more stalling. Time to get my ass up and tackle the day._

_Big yay to Friday tho._

With half closed eyes, she threw the blanket away and slid to the edge of her bed. She put both of her feet on the ground and tried to rub the sleepiness away with both hands flat on the face.

_Maybe it was still a bit too late yesterday._

_Well, I’m not feeling half dead like last time, that’s an improvement._

“Good morning, Maxie!” cheered a voice, coming from the direction of her couch.

“Good..”

_..Uhh, morning?_

Max released her face and raised her head from her hands to look across the room. What she found was a blonde girl sitting on the couch, staring back at her.

“Rachel!” she remarked with wide eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Well,” smirked the long haired blonde, “sitting I would say,”

_Yeahh.. no shit?_

“Or more specifically, sitting on your couch, looking at you,” Rachel revised her own words, “I think that’s more correcto.”

_Gnaaah!_

“You know what I mean!” the brunette replied with a mix of confusion and curiosity in her voice. “Why are you in my room?”

Rachel turned her gaze diagonally up as she laid her index finger on her chin. A second later, her mouth is forming another grin.

_I absolutely don’t like that look._

“You didn’t lock your door,” she answered amused. “So I sneaked in.”

_She.. sneaked in?_

_Not wanna pose here but.. I FUCKING CALLED IT YESTERDAY!_

“And,” she turned her index finger towards Max, still pointing at the ceiling with it.

‘ _And’? Oh boy.._

“Maybe I hoped to catch ya in your panties,” finished the blonde to explain.

_Wha? Catch me in my..?_

The freckled girl slowly lowered her gaze towards her lap as her skin color slowly changed to red.

“Got that one, I would say,” Rachel pointed amusedly out.

_This can’t be.. WHY?_

The freckled girl let herself fall back onto her bed, almost bumping her head against at the wall. She grabbed the pillow from her left and pressed it against her face.

“Oh and by the way,” continued the girl on the couch.

There’s _more?_

_This isn’t good. This isn’t good. This isn’t good. This isn’t good…_

“I dig that Mickey Mouse shirt,” she exclaimed cheerfully. “It’s cute!”

_AAAAHHHHHHHHHH! NO!_

_THIS. GIRL._

A dull groan was heard in the room.

_I can’t believe her!_

_Where is the more serious Rachel from the rooftop? I think I liked that one better!_

_Okay, that’s not true actually. I don’t want her to be sad like that. And seeing her doing this.. typical Rachel shenanigans is a good sign, I guess. At least it seems like she’s doing better already._

_Heh, only she can make a full mood change overnight._

“I can hear you giggling, Maxie,” said the girl on the couch amusingly.

_Oh for fucks sake._

_Enough is enough, Devil!_

The brunette grabbed the cushion on her face while she raised her body up from the bed. She used the momentum to throw the pillow towards Rachel, aiming for her head.

“Woah,” the blonde barely dodged the cotton filled projectile.

_Unlucky. Just hit the wall._

“Do ya intend to start a war there, Maxie?” Rachel asked jokingly.

_It would be tempting to be honest._

“Why not?” the freckled girl replied as she already grabbed for another cushion. “I fought in many great pillow wars. Mostly successful!”

Rachel moved her right hand in front of her mouth and started laughing.

“Oh great pillow warrior queen, please spare me and my unworthy being’s life,” she pleaded with a little bow after her laughter slowed down.

_Haha. As if!_

“Say, why should I provide such a gracious gesture?” the brunette replied, trying to sound serious. She stood up and made herself ready for another throw. “I fail to see a liberating reason to show any mercy to the kinds of yours.”

“I beg ya to not judge in a rush, my majesty. I surely didn’t come empty handed to your empire of glorious pictures,” the hazel eyed girl grabbed a paper bag from the shelf next to the couch and presented it. “I’m confident these delicacies from Blackwell Kingdom will be to your utmost satisfaction.”

_Food?_

_That’s not fair! You can bribe anyone with free munchies. Right, Chloe?_

_Damn you for using my own dirty trick against me!_

“I call you lucky for catching me in a good mood today,” Max released the pillow in her hand and let it fall on the bed behind her. “I shall connive your sins and speak you free from any punishment. But, only for the time being.”

Rachel hold her right hand in front of her chest and did another little bow, “My humblest gratitude, queen Maxie.”

_Could get used to that title._

“You’re a dork,” stated the brunette as she walked across the room and sat down next to the blonde.

“Likewise,” Rachel replied with a grin and swung an arm around Max's waist, pressing her lightly against her own body.

_Surprise squeeze? Sorry, I’m used to it by now. Boo-ya._

“So, what magic of yummy led me to spare your life?” the brunette stared at the white paper bag as she asked.

“I present you,“ the hazel eyed girl opened the bag and brought out its content, “the most delicious vendor machine sandwiches of the entire school.”

_Sandwiches? That will work just fine, yep._

_Hm, I wonder.. should I hold it up in the air when I take it? Like Zelda style._

_..don’t have the jingle to play tho._

“You’re doing very well as my personal food deliverer,” Max took the offered breakfast and unwrapped it. “I think I’ll keep you for now.”

“Why, thank you,” replied Rachel amused. “And to also live up to my chauffeur's duties I’ll even drive ya to our meet up with Chloe after school!”

_How on earth..?_

“ _Our_ meet up?” the brunette asked and took a bite from the sandwich.

_Okay, doesn’t take a genius to figure she knows about it from Chloe, since she claimed to not have mind reading powers. Or, she lied about that detail._

_Either way, it does mean they are both fine again. That’s a relieve!_

“Yip. As if I miss the chance to get free food from ya,” explained the blonde with a grin.

_Oh you want to sneak a seat for the food train?_

_Fine, but I won’t make it that easy._

“And who exactly invited you? As far as I can recall, I only invited Chloe,” she stated in a skeptical but joking tone.

The hazel eyed girl looked at Max with a smirk as she pointed at her own face.

_Heh, figures._

_Well yeah, it’s not a bad thing after all. Like that I can thank Rachel even a bit for everything._

_Plus Chloe probably loves it too. After all she was so excited about us three hanging together._

_I think this will be fun!_

“Alright,” said the brunette in a defeated voice. “I guess it’s my turn of food service,” and took another bite.

“So, it’s okay with you?” the blonde asked with a hint of worry.

_Hm? Yeah! That’s what I just said._

“That’s the meaning of the word ‘alright’,” replied Max simply.

“Yass!” cheered the blonde and slung her arms around the other girl for a short hug. “Thank you, Maxie.”

_Woah!_

_Okay.. didn’t see that coming at all. Still haven't sharpen my spidey senses enough, I guess._

Rachel released the brunette to fetch her phone out of her jeans pocket.

“I’ll let Chloe know that we will meet her after school,” she said as she typed on the screen, but stopped and looked at Max. “If you don’t mind.”

_Hm, Chloe and I haven’t agreed on a time yet. And I don’t have any other things to do so far. So, I think it’s fine._

_Besides, food right after school ..or at any time at all, is never wrong. That is common knowledge._

Max took the last bite from her breakfast as she nodded in agreement.

“Perfect,” the blonde said with a smile.

“And now you’re even my personal assistant,” the freckled girl smirked. “I could get used to this.”

“I betcha could,” laughed Rachel as she typed a few more things in her phone.

She finally pressed the send button and looked at the screen for a moment longer.

“I’m sorry Maxie. I’m afraid I have to go now,” said the blonde with a hint of disappointment. “I promised to meet up with some folks.”

_Aww already?_

“Oh. Okay,” the freckled girl simply replied.

_But yeah, she still knows many other peeps than me here. That popular blabla bullshit stuff._

_..I just hope.._

“Will you be alright?” Max asked with a meek tone.

Rachel's lips formed a warm smile as she saw the brunette’s worried expression.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured while looking into the other girl’s blue eyes. “Thank you.”

_Good! I hold you to that._

“But,” the blonde stood up and opened her arms, her eyes still gazing on the sitting girl. “I would be more fine with a Maxie hug.”

_Maxie hug? Sounds like my cue!_

Max also stood up and put her arms around the other girl.

“Thanks for the food,” said the freckled girl as they both released from each other's embrace after a moment.

“You’re utmost welcome, milady,” Rachel did a little curtsy before she walked towards the door. “See ya later, Maxie.”

“Yeah, later!” replied the freckled girl as the blonde stepped out and close the door behind her.

_Aaand there she goes._

_Well, that was some different wake up than usual. Not that I'm complaining about free breakie. Just pointing it out, ya know._

Max took the packaging of the sandwich and walked to the trashcan in the corner next to her window.

“And she seems to do a lot better, right Lisa?” she asked her plant while she let the junk fall into the bucket.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t water you in a few days,” the brunette grabbed the bottle next to her plant and opened the cap. “Here you have some to gulp on.”

_Hopefully Rachel will be alright as she said._

As she finished watering Lisa, she turned around and made her way towards the bed, looking at the pillow she let fall onto it.

_Heh, well. I guess if she’s able to hijack into my room and do silly stuff like earlier, I have no need to worry so much._

Sitting down on her bed, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand.

_It was cute how joyful she was about us three hanging together. She’s just like Chloe in that regard._

She canceled the keylock with a stroke across the screen and looked at the screen.

_Speaking of her.._

**Chloe x3:** Of course I was right.

**Chloe x3:** And that emoji cheat has to be punished

**Chloe x3:** That’s one extra coke for the genius

_Haha, damn._

_Okay, that’s only fair. One extra drink for the blue dork._

_..Hmm, only got texts from Chloe. I expected Mom to write too, being the worry head that she is._

_Well, maybe she’ll text later. Or she will let Dad do it again, because uhhh_ _inconspicuous._

The freckled girl snickered.

_That would be so Mom._

_Anyway, enough time wasted. I should get ready for the day._

She took a final look at her phone..

_And I still have time for a shower! Nice!_

..before she put it back on the nightstand and jumped off the bed.

* * *

 The door of the showers room swung open and a clean brunette stepped out of it.

T _ypical, now that I don’t care much, I don’t meet anyone in there. I didn’t even hurry._

_Could have needed that the other day._

She raised her head and looked up, giving her best false angry face.

_Once again, damn you universe! Someday my empire strikes back!_

Max lowered her head again and turned her attention to the window on her left.

_Thought it is pretty quiet overall today. I mean, I didn’t see a soul at the floor on my way here. Only Dana is blasting her music all over the place._

Supporting herself with one hand against the table in front of the window, she leaned a bit forward towards the window.

_It’s such lovely blue sky. Looks like it’s gonna be a nicey dayey today._

With a smile in her face, she turned around to make her way back to her room, as she suddenly stopped when she turned around the corner.

_Wait.. Is that..?_

The freckled girl walk closer to the room with the number 222.

_Knew it! Kate is playing violin again!_

_I barely didn’t hear it because of Dana’s dorm entertainment session._

She pressed her ears lightly against the door while closing her eyes.

_Kate plays so beautifully._

Max stayed like that for while and quietly hummed in the rhythm of the song, until the melody slowed down and gave its final sounds.

_Aww. Over already?_

_Sorry Kate, but you won’t get rid of me so easily._

_Prepare for the_ _great pillow warrior queen_ _! Muhahaha!_

_..Okay seriously, our first class is English again, so why not go to class together?_

The freckled girl pulled her ear back from the door to knocked a few times against it.

“Yes?” said the voice inside. “It’s open.”

Taking her small cleaning bag into her left hand, she used her right to press the handle down and stepped in.

“Good morning, Kate,” greeted the photographer and leaned the door ajar.

“Oh, good morning, Max,” smiled the blonde back and put her instrument back into the case. “How are you this morning?”

“Tidy and fresh,” the brunette lifted her small bag a bit. “Even better after hearing your concert.”

_Hehe, smooth._

“Thanks,” still smiling, Kate averted the eye contact and blushed a little. “I always used to play in the morning at home. I guess it’s a habit now.”

“I won’t complain about that habit,” reassured Max.

_I totally won’t._

“I hope others won’t either,” the timid girl closed the case and sat down on her couch. “I was afraid someone came to complain as I heard the knock.”

“I think you’ll be fine,” the brunette snickered as she slightly opened the door again. “Dana obviously does a better job than you at that.”

The blonde girl escaped a chuckle. “Yes, looks like it.”

_I wonder how she didn’t get the wrath of the entire dorm by now._

“So, uhm,” Kate continued to speak, “Do you want something, Max?”

_If I..?_

_Oh, yeah. I’m here for a reason._

“Right,” the freckled girl shifted her weight to the other foot, “I thought I could use some company walking to school. And since we have the first class together, I chose you as the lucky winner.”

“Sounds like I won’t have a choice,” replied the blonde amusedly.

_Nope, you absolutely don’t._

The freckled girl shook her head with a smile.

“Okay,” Kate chuckled again as she stood up. “Give me five minutes, okay, Max?”

_Congratulations, you won your personal Kate!_

_Uhh.. what?_

_Sometimes, even I think my thoughts are weird._

_Whatever._

_Five minutes is enough to dress up._

“Alrighty,” Max used her foot to push the door open. “See you in five.”

She walked backwards out of the room while closing the door with her hand. As the brunette turned around she almost bumped into another girl, who walked by.

_Woah._

“Hey!” the black haired girl yelled while adjusting her glasses.

“S..Sorry. My bad,” apologized the freckled girl, taking a step back.

“Indeed it was. How about you look at where you are actually going?” said the girl while already walking away to the exit.

_Wowser, okay. Sorry for being alive, I guess?_

Max kept her eyes on the girl until she vanished behind the door.

_Hm.. haven’t I seen her before?_

_If I remember right.._

_Wasn’t that the girl I saw on Monday with, uhm.. this guy who bused me the other day. What was his name again? Warren?_

_However, I don’t have time for that. I’m on a time schedule. So better get on the move, Max._

As she walked towards her room, the brunette’s attention turned to the slate next to her door.

_Ugh, right. That happened too._

_I bet everyone saw Victoria’s lovely stupid ass messages by now._

_It’s better to get rid of it, even if I don’t have any clue what else to write on it._

She lifted her hand and was about to erase the message as she suddenly stopped moving.

_Wait. This isn’t.._

“ _My shine in the moonless night” with.. a heart?_

_Who?_

_Was that.. Rachel?_

Max couldn’t help but smile.

_Yeah, only can be her._

_That’s so sweet._

_Also a bit embarrassing, but.. I’ll definitely keep it._

_Thank you Rachel._

Leaving the slate as it is, the freckled girl pushed her door open and shut it closed right after she stepped into her domain.

_Okay, if my gut ticks right, I got about three and a half minutes left._

_Not saying that it’s a race, but, it’s totally a race! Against, uhh.. Kate? Or.. time?_

_So bring it on!_

She walked to her wardrobe and put the cleaning bag into its shelf.

_Step one, clothes. What to wear today?_

Crossing her arms, the brunette inspected the full variety her wardrobe has to offer.

_Alright, since I don’t have much time, I have exactly two choices._

_Either I wear the exact same clothes like the past few days which, on the plus side, would probably annoy Victoria._

_Hehe._

_Or.._

Max closed her eyes, reached out with her hand and blindly picked the first clothing she finds.

_And the winner is..?_

_Sweet! Black t-shirts go with everything! No need for anything else with that sunshine outside._

_That’s one problem solved._

_Now step two. Quickly change!_

_That’s an easy one._

She slipped out of her sleeping gear and lazily threw it into the wardrobe. As fast as she can the brunette pulled over the tee she grabbed a few seconds ago.

_That’s one._

_Next, where’s my jeans?_

She swirled around with her head to look out for the missing piece.

_Hm, nowhere to find in the trice._

_Well, I don’t have time for this._

Once again she reached into her wardrobe and repeated the action from earlier as she randomly picked the first jeans pants her hands could find.

_I congratulate you to be my fashion piece for the day._

_You’re welcome._

_..Quickly changing into that, and then only hopping into my shoes, which luckily are right there next to me, aaand tadaaa! All dressed up!_

_Which leads us to step three._

_Basically grabbing everything I need for today as fast as possible!_

_Should be easy._

She turned around on the spot she’s standing and scanned through her room.

_Let’s see.._

_Phone at the nightstand, school stuff, bag and camera at the desk._

_Tsk, like that’s even a challenge. C'mon!_

Hurrying to her bed, Max picked up the phone from her stand and quickly checked on it.

_Got a new message?_

**Chloe x3:** “The queen and her loyal servitor await your arrival this afternoon”?

**Chloe x3:** what the fuck?

_Haha. Nice one Rachel._

_I just have to.._

**Max:** bow to the pillow master!

She arrived at her desk as soon as she hit the send button and put away her phone into her messenger bag, along with her camera and the school items she needs.

_There we go. One last look if I.._

_Nope, seems like I’m good to go._

“You take care of everything, Lisa. As always,” said Max to her plant as she went across the room and stepped out.

_Aaaand finish!_

The door to Kate’s room opened at the same time as the freckled girl closed her own.

_Hah! Looks like I won! Don’t mess with me, losers!_

_Okay, I don’t mean to call Kate a loser.. just, generally speaking._

“Ready?” the blonde asked as she spotted Max.

“Yeah! Let’s go,” the freckled girl did a short sprint to close the distance and they both walked side by side towards the exit.

_Heh, it’s so much quieter here without Dana’s morning music event._

Her attention was on Dana’s room as they both passed by.

_Hm, her door is a little open._

_Maybe she is still here. It would be a good chance to.._

“Actually,” the brunette turned her gaze back to Kate. “Can you please wait a moment? I, uhh.. need to talk to Dana.”

“Of course, Max,” the blonde nodded with a smile. “I’ll wait outside in the meantime.”

_Of course you would say of course. Wouldn’t be you otherwise._

“Thanks. Will not take long,” Max replied and walked back to Dana’s room while the other girl made her way outside.

The freckled girl put her flat hand against the door.

_Hmm.. no, Max. Better knock this time instead of going down the sneaky route._

_Even if all my nosy nerves ruffle against it._

_Besides, you want to talk to her, not spy on her! Damn habits!_

“Dana?” she asked while she softly knocked against the wood.

“Ss open,” mumbled the voice inside loud enough.

_Nice!_

“Hey,” the freckled girl greeted as she stepped in. “It’s just me.”

“Max!” the cheerleader took the scrunchy she was holding with her mouth and tied her hair to a pony tail. “What’s up?”

“Not much. Just stopping by while being on the run, and..” replied the brunette as she walked a bit further into the room.

“I haven’t seen you all day yesterday.” Dana smiled while she shortened the distance between them. “Looks like you’re doing better now.”

_Yeah, guess it was not hard for her, or anyone to figure that I was doing shitty._

_Puffy eyes and dark circles are a good indicator for that after all._

“Yes, I am. Thanks,” Max's eyes darted aimlessly around for a second. “That’s why I’m here actually. I wanted to thank you. You know, for looking out for me the other day.”

“That’s sweet, Max,” the taller girl’s lips showed a smile. “But I can’t take credit for that.”

“Huh? Why not?” the freckled girl gave Dana a puzzled look.

“Rachel came by and asked me to keep an on eye you,” the cheerleader said.

_What? Rachel..?_

_But.._

“She said she has some other business to take care of this morning,” she finished to explain.

_Ohh! Now it clicks!_

_Of course! Why else should Dana wake me up? It's not like my room is on her way out and I don't think she specifically look if I walk by. I never thought about that!_

_So, It makes sense._

_And, the business Rachel had must be her going to Chloe._

The brunette exhaled some air out of her lungs as her eyes looked down to the floor.

_..Man, she is there for me even when she isn’t actually there._

_That girl.._

A small smile appeared on the freckled girl's lips.

_I haven’t done anything to deserve this._

She shook her head slitghly as she closed her eyes for a moment.

_However.._

“That doesn’t matter.” Max reached with her left hand to her right upper arm. “You helped me and I appreciate it,” she looked up again with a warm smile, “So, thank you.”

“You’re too damn cute,” the taller girl returned the smile. “In that case, you’re very welcome, Max.”

_Good! Wasn’t that hard, right?_

“Do you want to chill here for a bit until classes start?” offered Dana. “I wouldn’t mind.”

_That would be sweet, but.._

“Sorry. Like I said,” Max rubbed her neck, “I’m on the run. Some other time, kay?”

“Sure,” the cheerleader replied joyfully. “Anytime you like.”

_I definitely come back to that!_

“Thanks, Dana,” the brunette did a small wave with her hand and made her way out of the room. “Have a nice day.”

“See you later,” the taller girl replied as she walked to the door with Max.

As the door closed behind the freckled girl, she didn’t move any further.

_Is there anything you don’t have your fingers in, Rachel?_

_Heh. You are freaking nuts, you know that?_

Max suddenly began to sprint towards the stairwell out from her standing position. She pushed the door open and took two steps at a time on her way down. Arriving at the end, she avoided the last bit of the stair with a little hop.

Arriving at the end, she avoided the last couple of stairs with a small jump.

_Woops._

_Careful, Max. Clumsy as you are, you will only land on your butt. The last thing I want is to break my camera!_

As the freckled girl stepped outside, she was greeted by the bright morning light of the sun. It didn’t take long for her to find Kate standing by a bench right in front of the entrance, with another girl next to her.

_Oh shit! Is that Victoria talking to Kate?_

_This is not good._

The brunette didn’t hesitate and rushed the short distance to both girls.

_Yeah, as I thought. She isn’t looking very happy at all._

“Hey,” she yelled and stepped in front of the timid girl.

Both girls turned her attention to the voice.

“Max?” said Kate in a mix of worry and confusion.

“Oh, you,” Victoria huffed, crossing her arms. “What do you want, hipster?”

“How about you leave her alone?” the freckled girl narrowed her eyes.

“How about you mind your own fucking business?” shot the pixie blonde back. “We were just talking.”

_Yeah, right.._

Max took one more step between the other two girls. “She doesn’t look very comfortable to me about your so-called _talking_!”

“Not my fault if she won’t accept the truth,” Victoria said with a slight smirk.

“Truth?” the brunette glared at the girl in front of her. “You mean the truth you make up to give others shit?”

“What’s your fucking problem?” the short haired blonde asked in an aggressive tone, returning the glare.

_'My' problem?_

“Question right back to you!” the smaller girl countered. “What is yours with us? We never did a single thing to you!”

“That’s none of your business!” the blonde girl replied furiously.

_Such a bullcrap!_

“You pick on us and now want to tell me it’s not our business? For cereal?” Max raised her voice.

“No. What I say is, fuck you!” Victoria responded angrily.

_Yeah, perfect answer._

The freckled girl exhaled a deep breath.

_This doesn’t get us anywhere. And I have better things to do than to argue with her._

_I need to think of something else._

Max pondered for a second before she lowered her head and closed her eyes.

_..maybe?_

She raised her right arm and narrowed her brows.

All three girls stood there for a few moments until Victoria opened her mouth.

“What the fuck are you doing?” she asked in an annoyed tone.

_Nope.._

_Guess, that didn’t work._

_Heh, what did I expect anyway? Some sudden superpowers?_

She lowered her arm again.

_..Sigh, okay._

_Activating plan B then._

“You know, Victoria,” the brunette said in a calm voice.

_I hope you’re right, Rachel, and she has a good side._

She raised her head to look at the pixie blonde. “We could be friends if you wanted to.”

Victoria let out a short laugh before she responded, “Are you fucking serious? With you pulling weird shit like that?”

“Well,” the brunette shrugged without any expression in her face, “Yeah.”

“Tsk. Don’t be ridiculous, Max,” the blonde clicked with her tongue. “It’s more likely that I can see ghosts!”

_Do TV ghost count?_

_Anyway, I tried._

“Fine. Until then, leave us the fuck alone,” the freckled girl gave her one last glare as she grabbed the hand of the girl behind her.

“Don’t you dare tell me what to do, hipster!” shot Victoria back.

“Whatever. Come Kate, we’re going,” Max simply responded and walked away with the other girl.

_Let’s get away from the queen of bitches! I’m so weary of all that shit!_

As they both went hand in hand along the yard, the freckled girl noticed that a few other people were looking at her.

_Fuck! Were they here the whole time? I didn’t even notice._

_Have they.._

_Of course they must have heard the whole thing!_

_..Shit! As if I haven’t drawn enough attention this week already._

“Uhm, Max?” said the voice next to her.

“Hm?” mumbled the brunette as she looked back at Kate.

“You can let go of my hand now,” said the timid girl.

_Oh!_

“Uhh, yeah. Of course,” she let go of the other girl’s hand. “Sorry.”

_Fuck, what’s this? My hand is shaking like crazy._

_In fact, my whole body is trembling a bit._

_Was I like that the whole time?_

_I hope not.._

“Are you alright?” asked Max, looking at her hand for a moment before she turned her attention to Kate.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thanks,” the blonde smiled. “And, thanks for standing up for me. It means a lot.”

_If Kate is smiling, everything is fine._

“Don’t even mention it,” the freckled girl smiled back. “Can we please stop talking about it? I don’t want to think about any of that crap for the rest of the day.”

_Or ever._

“That’s fine with me,” Kate nodded.

_Perfect._

_Now that this is settled.._

“Hold on a moment,” Max opened her bag to grab her camera.

She stepped closer to the other girl and pointed her Polaroid at them both. “Gimme your best smile.”

_This is gonna be a good day!_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello few peeps who still read that thing for some weird reason +waves+
> 
> I knew this would be a longer chapter as soon as I figured out how to cover that all. But my gosh, this is a lot for my standards.
> 
> I wanted to cover some things with this chapter and even added one unnecessary scene because I got a spontaneous blast on that xD (The Max changing clothes part. Nothing more to add to that :P)
> 
> I had the idea with Rachel since last chapter and thought it would be funny way to set the mood for this chapter. Well hopefully it was :D
> 
> To explain the message Rachel left at Max’s plate. The previous chapter was originally planned with a full moon, but as I looked up which moon exactly was at that day on Oregon, it turned out there was none at all. Well, shit xD At least I got this little idea out of it :D
> 
> The part with Victoria, gosh. I had this idea for so long. Almost since the beginning. Always imagined it to be in the classroom, but gladly I had that idea with Kate and Max going together to school, because it solved most of the problems I would have had otherwise :D
> 
> I hope it doesn’t feel like I used Kate only for that. She doesn’t get much screen time, but I thought it would be okay since she got more in previous chapters.
> 
> A thing I want to clarify is when Max lifts her hand to try to channel any powers. That’s only a dumb idea I had for a long time and wanted to put in to show Max weirdness and as a reference to the game itself. Nothing more to that :D
> 
> If you may wonder about that “ghost” thing Victoria says, it’s a nod towards LonesomeBard and his fanfic “Obscura”. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend it to you girls and guys :D
> 
> I hope the chapter doesn’t feel like there’s pressed in too much. I didn’t want to split it up because everything is almost at the same scenery, so it didn’t feel right.
> 
> Obligatory thanks to Stevo who always makes my chapters grammatically bearable to all of you :D
> 
> And with that I say thanks for reading and goodbye for now :D
> 
> Until next time x3
> 
> NO EMOJI


	15. I think

Once again, a flash appeared as Max pressed the trigger of her camera down. The mechanic of the device immediately began to rotate inside and spat out the Polaroid soon after.

_Got ya!_

The freckled girl grabbed the picture and shook it a few times before she stored it into her bag together with her camera.

_Good old Two Whales sign! Glad to see you still show the way to all souls who seek delicious grub._

Max was standing on the sidewalk between the parking lot and the diner’s entrance and looked up to the big whales on top of the building. She shielded her eyes from the reflection of the sun on this late Friday afternoon.

_It’s been so long since the last time I was here. I have to be careful not to drool just by thinking about the nosh paradise here._

_Heh. I remember Joyce always had to keep an eye on us when we fooled around here. We didn’t make her life any easier for sure._

Her eyes shifted to the windows of the diner.

_I wonder if she still works here. I can’t spot her from out here._

_Chloe probably told her already that I’m back in town. Or maybe she heard me when we had the sleepover._

The brunette closed her eyes for a second while she sighed.

_I just hope she isn’t mad at me for not saying 'hi' ..or for leaving years ago._

“Geek spotted!” Chloe said as she swung an arm around the smaller girl. “Something interesting to spy in there?”

_Well, at least Chloe is here, so I have someone who can guard me in the worst case._

“Nah. Just killing some time because a certain someone is late as usual,” countered the freckled girl and threw a grin at the other girl while pulling her into a quick hug.

 

“Only ten minutes!” the blue haired girl smacked her gently at the shoulder as they released each other from their embrace. “Credit my improvement instead of nagging!”

“Guess you’re right,” Max giggled. “Thank you for not letting me wait until midnight.”

“Groan!” the bluenette let out a snort. “Why do I have to put up with that just for free munchies?”

_You make it waaay too easy for me, Chloe._

“What can I say?” the smaller girl shrugged. “We all have our Price to pay.”

“Don’t get cocky, smartass,” Chloe grinned mischievously at the other girl. “I have the power to literally make you pay for this.”

_Haha, got it. Teasing Chloe equal thinner wallet._

_Would totally be worth the sacrifice._

“So, where’s Rachel?” the taller girl asked as she looked around. “She upgraded this to a three girl party, if I got that cryptic shit right.”

“Your decoding skills didn’t fail you. She's already head..” the freckled girl started to explain, but cut off as she heard several knockings against a window beside them.

Both girls simultaneously turned her attention to the last row of the diner seats and saw the blonde waving at them with one hand, holding up a glass of dark liquid in the other.

_Well, there she is._

“Guess that would be the extra coke you demanded,” Max pointed out.

“Useful minions. I dig,” said Chloe with an impish voice.

“Actually,” Max started, still looking at Rachel. “And I quote. _I’ll grab us a seat and order some juice before we are dying from old age and thirst at the same time._ ”

“Pff,” the bluenette threw a middle finger towards the window.

Rachel looked at the freckled girl as she mouthed something with a shocked expression, then she eyed the other girl while slowly moving her lips towards the straw in the drink.

“Oh, you wouldn’t dare!” threatened Chloe half-jokingly with a playful glare.

“Knowing her,” Max simply said, “I think she would.”

The blonde moved her mouth closer and closer to the small tube, until her lips almost touched the straw. With a mocking grin, Rachel backed away and stuck out her tongue to the blue haired girl.

“See? The girl knows what’s good for her,” exclaimed the taller girl as she blew a kiss at the girl inside.

_Oh c’mon._

“If it would be me, she totally would have pulled through! Not fair!” the brunette complained, looking at Rachel in disbelief, which resulted in a chuckle from the hazel-eyed girl.

“You still have a lot to learn in the ways of Rachel, young Max,” teased Chloe turning her attention back to the smaller girl.

“We’re on the same page on that one,” replied Max flatly.

_But I made great progress already. Just you wait, devil. My time will come!_

“Seriously though,” the freckled girl smiled at Chloe again. “I’m glad you're both good again.”

“Me too,” agreed Chloe, adjusting her beanie, “Blocking her for that long probably was a dick move, so I figured I should text her. You know, after you told me she freaked hardcore on you.”

“You did?” asked Max with surprise in her voice.

“Yeah,” the taller girl answered, looking to the street for a split second. “Didn’t get an answer until this morning tho.”

_I see. She immediately wrote Rachel after I asked for some help. Maybe that’s why.._

_Wait a moment!_

“You said we should let her cool off first! You broke your own advice!” Max pointed out with an unbelieving expression.

“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” the bluenette defended herself, holding her arms up.

“I should refuse you that extra coke because of foul play,” the freckled girl crossed her arms as she looked sternly with a smile on her lips to the taller girl.

“Too bad it’s already bought,” smirked Chloe in victory.

“I still can claim it for myself!” shot the brunette back amusingly.

“Not if I’m faster than you,” the tattooed girl danced around Max, nudging at the smaller girl's waist playfully and sprinted the short distance to the building's entrance.

_ Heh, she's ridiculous. Doing everything to protect her precious liquid treasure. _

The freckled girl laughed as she walked towards the diner herself.

_ As if I even have a chance to win with my size! I call foul play again, Chloe! _

As Max pushed the door open to stepped into the building, her nose immediately was greeted by a mix of coffee and all kind of different food.

_Mmhh. If this doesn’t smell like food haven! My tummy is already grumbling just by the scent._

She laid her right hand on her belly.

_Easy, big boy. You’ll get something soon. For now, be quiet and try to not get the attention from every single person in here, got it?_

Max walked a few steps further into the diner and looked around for a bit.

_Not too crowded here. That’s good. Means I don’t have to wait too long for my nosh._

Her eyes stopped as she spotted a familiar looking woman behind the bar.

_And there’s Joyce. Still keeping the diner together. More importantly, she doesn’t look mad at all. So, I’m safe for now._

The brunette smiled at the older woman and gave her with a small wave, which resulted to get one herself in return.

_As it turns out, it is still the old diner. Shocker._

_So far so good._

_I better catch up now, before Rachel gets the idea to do her shenanigans with my soda. Can't let that happen._

Max turned to the left corner and walked towards the two other girls, who sat next to each other in the last row.

“First!” cheered Chloe and took a sip from her coke.

“Oh, you two had a race?” asked the blonde, looking back and forth between the two.

“It wasn’t,” the brunette saw the lemon soda she wanted and sat down in the booth, sliding to her drink on the window seat.

“Don’t lie because you lost,” mocked the blue haired girl amusingly. “It totally was a race!”

“Looks like you lost that one, Maxie,” Rachel stood up from her seat only to slide to the free seat next to the freckled girl.

_Ugh, really? Teaming up against me?_

“Her head start was totally a cheat!” Max defended herself while she slid off the strap on her shoulder, placing her bag beside her to the left.

“You can argue as much as you want,” smirked the blue haired girl. “A win is a win.”

“I’m afraid she is right,” commented Rachel, playing with the straw in her drink.

_Not. Fair. At. All!_

“Not helpful, Rachel,” complained the freckled girl.

“Never tried to be,” the blonde chuckled, smiling at the brunette.

_Gnaaah!_

“You suck,” Max bumped her back against the soft bench.

“Welcome to my world,” Chloe said with a subtle shrug.

“I don’t envy you,” the freckled girl shook her head while she looked at the bluenette. “How did you endure it this whole time?”

“Dunno,” the taller girl’s lips slowly form a smirk, “Sometimes it’s hard. She can be so bossy.”

_That look. Heh, I know what you’re up to, Chloe._

“I know right?” the brunette confirmed, trying to sound serious.

“Hmm, I don’t know,” interjected Rachel, “She seems pretty alright to me.”

_Do not react to that, Max!_

“And she always needs attention,” continued Max, ignoring the girl next to her.

“Fucking yes,” replied Chloe and leaned forward, placing both arms on the table. “Such a know-it-all. 'Do this, that’s better for you.' Blablabla.”

“And she always acts on her own. Like no fucks given,” added the freckled girl with chuckle.

“And she’s also smart,” the blonde threw in.

“And so pretentious,” shot Chloe back immediately, still looking at Max.

“And beautiful,” Rachel brushed through her hair, letting it fly a little.

_Haha, okay okay. I think that’s enough. We should stop this._

“But after all,” Max turned her eyes towards the long haired blonde, smiling mildly, “she’s pretty fun to have around.”

Rachel returned the gaze and her expression softened as she answered with a smile of her own.

“God, Max. You can’t tell her that straight to her face!” said Chloe incredulously.

“It’s simply the truth,” the smaller girl stuck her tongue towards the taller girl.

“That doesn’t matter! You can’t let her know!” grinned the tattooed girl as she put her hands behind her head.

“I love you too, Chloe,” giggled Rachel and drank a little bit from her cup.

“Nothing new,” the bluenette replied and grabbed the menu from the table. “Let’s get some grub already. I’m hella starving.”

_Yeah, about time for that! My belly has been protesting since my first step into the diner._

“I’m in,” Max raised a bit up from her seat to sit properly and drank some of her soda.

“No need for that,” Rachel snatched the menu card out of Chloe’s hands. “I already took care of it while you two fooled around outside.”

_What? She ordered stuff right out of the blue?_

_Uhh.. no pun intended, Chloe._

“But you didn’t know what we wanted!” indicated the freckled girl and placed her glass back on the table.

“That’s no problem. I got the wisdom on my side,” smirked Rachel, throwing the menu lazily back on the table. “I know what I want and Chloe almost always eats the same.”

“Guilty,” the taller girl leaned back and grabbed her cola to sip from it.

‘ _No problem’ my ass. You didn’t know what I wanted! Heck, even I don’t know what I want yet!_

“That just covers you two,” pointed Max out. “What about me?”

Rachel also reached for her drink and shrugged, “I just guessed,” and nipped on the straw.

‘ _Guessed’ she says.._

_I'm the one who's treating you and paying for everything, and I can’t even choose my own food. That’s not how it should work!_

Max closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.

_However, I should have seen that coming. You can’t leave the devil alone for a second. It’s your own fault, Max._

_Well, seeing it from a different perspective, now I don’t have to decide between all the yummi things I can get here. Would maybe have taken hours until I made up my mind._

“Guess that makes one surprise meal for me then,” admitted the freckled girl in defeat.

“That’s the spirit, Maxie!” Rachel gave the brunette a quick hug around the waist.

_Apology squeezes won’t w ork! I will remember that! Muhahaha!_

“Speaking of food,” the blue haired girl rubbed her hands as Joyce arrived with three plates on her dinner tray. “Perfect timing, Mom!”

“There you go, girls,” Joyce placed tray filled with meals on the table, “This will fill you up quite well.”

“You’re mine, Chicken-Fried Steak of Doom!” exclaimed the blue haired girl while she grabbed her plate.

_Of doom! No joke with that calories bomb. No offense of course, everyone gets weak when it comes to meat._

“Thanks, Joyce,” Rachel said as she got her bowl.

_Heh, why am I not surprised that she gets some salad? But looks like not even she survives without some pieces of meat._

_Anyway, that leaves just mine. Bring it on, Joyce!_

“It’s good to see you again, Max,” the older woman gave the freckled girl a smile as she handed over her plates. “How are you doing?”

_Two plates? Awesome!_

“I’m fine, Joyce. Thank you,” answered Max as she placed her food on the table. “It’s good to be back.”

_Macaroni and cheese with French fries? Weird combination, but no complaints on my side. You’ll get away with this, Rachel._

“I hope these two hellraisers di dn’t give you too much trouble,” said Joyce as she put both hands on her hips.

The brunette shook her head with a small grin. “I think I can handle them just fine.”

Rachel giggled without a word while she took a bite from her salad.

“Well, that’s good to hear,” replied the older blonde. “Maybe they will stop wrecking the town on every opportunity, now that you are around.”

“Mooom, please!” complained Chloe, rolling with her eyes.

“Alright, alright,” Joyce picked up the tray from the table. “Chloe, don’t forget to come home later, will you?”

“Jeez, Mom,” frowned the tattooed girl, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the booth. “I won’t forget our stupid talk with that.. with David.”

“Good,” Joyce gave her daughter a stern look before her expression relaxed. “Enjoy your meals, girls.” She wished and resumed back to work again.

Max waited until the older woman was away far enough as she leaned in to asked quietly, “What was that all about?”

“Apparently, Joyce thinks it’s a good idea to talk calmly about shit when David and the 'hellraiser' here had a fight again,” explained the hazel eyed girl with amusement in her voice.

_Hm, doesn’t sound that bad of an idea to me. But considering what Chloe told me and knowing her.._

“I still can’t believe you talked me into this shit!” said Chloe as she glared at the long haired blonde.

“You’re welcome,” Rachel replied in a serious tone. “Maybe it helps. You don’t know, Chloe.”

“Yeah yeah, whatevs,” the taller girl leaned forward again, grabbing the cutlery. “I already get a headache just thinking about it. As it wouldn't be bad enough to have endure this shitshow later on.”

_It’s that bad, huh? Poor Chloe._

“You’re right, we shouldn’t ruin the mood with stuff like that,” the blonde agreed.

“Right on,” Chloe cut off a piece of bacon. ”Now if you excuse me, I have to deal with that sucker here.”

Rachel let out a short laugh before she looked over to Max. “So, what do you say? Like what I got ya?”

_Yep, I do. Lucky for you._

“It pleases me enough for now,” joked the freckled girl and picked some of the noodles with her fork.

“Good!” responded Rachel and leaned over to snack a fry from Max’s plate.

“Hey! Stowp id!” Max protested with a full mouth.

“Ya say you don’t know rule number one, Maxie?” Rachel waved with the roasted stick in her hand, “Don’t get fries if you don’t want food to get stolen.”

_What kind of rule is that? And it’s not like I had a chance anyway!_

“You ordered them for me!” pointed Max out and moved the plate further away from the other girl.

“Right,” grinned the blonde and shoved the fry into her mouth.

_Evil. Pure evil._

“Shit, Rachel,” Chloe laughed while slicing off another piece of her bacon. “You have just awakened the Caulfield death stare.”

The hazel eyed girl eyed Max. “That’s her death stare?”

_Damn right it is. No one gets in the way of my nosh and me! Take that Rachel!_

“Yep,” replied the bluenette and shoved the piece in her mouth.

“It looks kind of cute,” chuckled the blonde. “Is that how you glared at Victoria?”

_Huh?_

“Victoria?” the brunette asked in confusion.

“You know, when you gone all rebel on her this morning,” clarified the hazel eyed girl with a curious expression.

_Oh, that!_

“Fuck, you did, Max?” Chloe stopped to chew.

“Kinda,” the freckled girl replied and look down on her plate, “I saw her getting shit on poor Kate again.”

“Hardcore,” commented Chloe with a grin.

“Vicky must have made a pretty dumb face as Maxie here just walked off with Kate,” explained Rachel as she slung her arm around brunette’s shoulder to give her a short squeeze. “I bet it was epic!”

“Way to go, Max!” cheered the blue haired girl. “That bitch didn’t know what hit her.”

“Except I almost shit in my pants,” added the freckled girl as she grabbed her glass and stared into it for a moment, before she took a sip.

_As I realized afterwards._

_..I don’t think it’s something to be so hyped about anyway. Like these two are._

_More importantly.._

Max placed the drink back on the table and looked at Rachel, “How do you even know about that?”

Rachel ate some of her salad before she answered, “Gossip spreads fast, Maxie.”

_Ugh, of course. Dumb question. With all the audience that was around, there were enough witnesses._

_That means more attention on Max. Great._

The brunette's shoulders dropped a bit as she looked at her plate of food, poking into the noodles.

“So,” Chloe began after a few seconds, when she saw the expression of Max, “What are you guys up to later? You better don't do something epic while I’m trapped with Colonel Shitass!”

Max raised her head and threw a tiny smile at the bluenette.

_Thanks for the topic change, Chloe._

“No idea,” Rachel replied and turned her attention to the freckled girl. “What do you want to do, Maxie?”

“Me?” asked the brunette surprised.

“Yip,” smiled the blonde girl, “After all, I’m your personal chauffeur.”

_That's some unexpected event planning all of the sudden._

Max put her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand as she looked out of the window.

_ Okay, lemme think. _

_ Chloe is right. It would be unfair if we do something too exciting without her. It just would feel wrong for me.  _

_ I also don’t want to take advantage of Rachel driving me around so much. I don’t think she mind. I mean it is of course sweet of her and she most likely would say a thing if it gets too much for her, but.. I just don't want to take advantage of that. _

_ So, there must be something, both being simple and fun at the same time. _

Her eyes focused on a building far away as her eyes absently wandered around outside.

_ Oh, yeah. Maybe that’s not a bad idea either. _

Max snapped out of her thoughts and returned her attention to the two girls again, “Is it okay if we go to the lighthouse? I would like to take some pictures up there.”

Rachel slid a bit closer towards the girl next to her and replied with a seductive undertone. “You can do anything with me, Maxie.”

The brunette's eyes grew wide.

_..Uhh?_

“Wha..?” the freckled girl’s stammered as her face turned slightly red.

“Jesus, really?” Chloe said as she rolled her eyes. “Get a room you two.”

Max’s gaze wandered from Chloe towards Rachel and found the blonde looking at her with an expectant expression.

_NO.._

“NO WAY!” the shy girl blurted out.

_Fucking crap! Can you be even louder, Max? Everyone in here must have heard you. Good thing I sit with my back towards all of them!_

_Wait, what if they also heard Rachel!_

The shy girl slid down on her seat and sunk down deeper into the booth.

_Oh gaawd.. I want to die._

“DEFENSES DOWN!” yelled the hazel eyed girl suddenly and sneaked another fry from Max’s plate.

_WHAT? YOU SHITTING ME? THIS IS WHAT THAT WAS ALL FOR?_

_Ugh! Why do I fall for it over and over again!_

Chloe reached across the table and also grabbed some chips from the brunette.

_What the fuck is this right now?_

“Are you serious?” asked Max with an incredulous tone.

“Defenses down,” shrugged the taller girl in response and shoved the fry into her mouth.

_This is just unbelievable.._

“You two are the worst,” the freckled girl mumbled as she raised up on her seat again and crossed her arms.

Max couldn’t help but to laugh when she saw that the other two girls fist-bumped each other with a winning smile on their faces.

_The best kind of worst though._

“Slide together,” said the freckled girl while she grabbed her trusted camera out of her bag.

“Yes! Photo time!” Chloe cheered as all three girls stuck their head together the best they could in the middle of the table.

“Ready?” Max asked as she aimed with the device towards them.

_Aaaand snap!_

* * *

 

The ambiance around the lighthouse was filled with the mild color of the setting sun. Watching into the horizon, both girls sat next to each other on a bench near the cliff, while listening to some music coming from Rachel’s phone.

_It definitely was a good idea to come up here. The reflection of the light from the water and the sight over the bay. It’s so calm and peaceful. I almost forgot how beautiful it is up here._

_I could get used to this._

“I love the view up here,” Max broke the silence, looking at the panorama in front of her.

“Yeah. It’s an eye-catcher,” agreed Rachel, doing the same. “Something that would be worth framed by you?”

“Absolutely,” answered the freckled girl, nodding slightly. “Too bad I used up all my film already.”

_And forgot to take a spare one with me. Beginner mistake, Max! Guess that’s the disadvantage going retro._

_But I don’t mind. I can come up here any other time again now._

“Do I hear regrets for taking a ton of pictures earlier?” grinned the blonde in a mocking tone.

“Duh! Never!” replied the brunette amusingly. “Besides, it wasn’t that much.”

_ Well, only because I ran out of film as I mentioned just now. There were some other shots I would have loved to take.  _

_Not that I have to tell you that fact. I know better by now!_

Max closed her eyes.

_It’s a bit surreal sitting here with someone I met just 5 days ago. Back in Seattle I was afraid of not making friends coming back here. Now I have Kate and Dana and.._

She turned her head to her left and looked at the blonde girl next to her.

_..Rachel._

As the hazel eyed girl noticed, she returned the gaze along with a beaming smile and slid a bit closer to Max. After a second they both gave their attention to the beautiful view again.

_I really don’t know if I would have reconnected Chloe without her. I annoyed Fernando and Kristen soo much about how I am afraid going back to Arcadia because of Chloe. They always did their best to reassure me every time I started being a worrywart again._

_And in the end, it was easier than I thought ..more or less._

The brunette exhaled some air and opened her messenger bag to get out her phone.

_I shouldn’t make the same mistake twice and write them already._

Unlocking the device, she searched for Kristen’s contact and began to type.

**Max:** Hey girl! u there?

_Simple and easy. That should work. Now I only hav.._

**Kristen:** Max caulfield!

_Woah, okay.. That was world record fast!_

**Kristen:** About time I heard from you >:(

**Max:** I know! sorry! 

**Max:** Insane week  >.<

**Max:** Have finally room to breathe just a second ago

**Kristen:** You better tell me everything

**Kristen:** else me mad at u :P

_Haha. Yeah, that’s only fair. Though it’s a bit too much for just texts, I guess._

**Max:** okay, just a short breakdown

**Max:** Tell you the full story on phone later, kay? :)

**Kristen:** Bring it already!

_Heh, so eager._

**Max:** okay, information bomb dropping now

**Max:** I met this girl at school, like all popular girl which I didn’t know at first

**Max:** always smiling and happy and all that

**Max:** For some strange reason she helped me get settled in school

**Max:** and I got to know a few peeps, thanks to that

** Max:  ** of course there were some mean folks too, but nothing I can't handle

**Max:** anyway

**Max:** turned out the girl is close friends with chloe and arranged a secret meeting

**Max:** Didn’t turn out well, but she looked out for me and even helped to solve things

**Max:** between me and Chloe I mean

**Max:** So thanks to her, me and chloe are cool again 

_Let's see if I.. yep, this sounds like a good sum up of everything._

_..Damn, now that I wrote all this stuff down, I realize what hell of a crazy week this was. I  never ever would have imagined everything would turn out like that.  _

_Sure, all the drama was pretty not nice, and I could easily live without Victoria’s bitching and stuff. But taken everything, it was one nice start being back in Arcadia Bay._

_Oh right, and I almost forgot.._

**Max:** also she’s a huge dork! :D

**Max:** in a funny way 

_ Important information! Have to remember that when I have time to update my journal. I hope it doesn't start to glow by the amount of stuff I need to write down.  _

**Kristen:** glad for you and Chloe :)

**Kristen:** That girl sounds awesome btw!

The freckled girl stared at the last message for a moment. Her expression softened after she finished reading through the text once more.

_Yeah._

She glanced over to Rachel again, her lips forming a tiny smile.

_She really is._

Raising the phone, Max aimed at the blonde and pressed the button to take a picture from her.

“Looks like you’re still not done,” Rachel commented with a smirk, still observing the ambiance the undergoing sun created.

Max only smiled without a comment, as she did a few more taps on her phone.

**Max:** *picture sent*

A quiet sigh escaped her lips as she looked into the sunset again.

_Thinking about how this stuff started. All with her bumping into my room, and.._

Ignoring the vibration of her phone, the brunette stored it back away into her messenger bag.

“You know,” Max said, turning her attention back to the other girl, “I never really answered your question.”

“Hm?” the blonde hummed in confusion as she shifted her head to look at the freckled girl. “Which questi..”

She cut off mid-sentence as she suddenly felt a hand touching her left cheek. Max had her eyes half-lidded as she slowly leaned forward, until both of their lips connected in a soft touch. Feeling how Rachel placed a hand on the freckled girl's waist and gradually started to respond to her sudden action, the shy brunette felt more secure and carefully moved herself closer to the presence of the other girl. With the atmosphere around the lighthouse filled by the warm orange of the sunset, both girls lost themselves in the intimate moment they were currently sharing.

What felt like countless seconds only ended, when the freckled girl began to slowly pull back and hesitantly let go of the blonde's lips.

_ I think.. _

Showing a timid smile, Max looked directly at Rachel and gazed into the other pair of hazel eyes.

“..I like girls.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that *stretches hands out to the sides* welcome to my generic and cliché ending!
> 
> A big Thank you to everyone who read this story to the end :D x3
> 
> If enough of you are interested, I would add an author’s commentary as a bonus chapter in a few weeks or so. I would explain my intentions and thoughts about this fic, chapters and some scenes maybe. I also would answer questions if you have any (Pm me or leave them in the comments) :)
> 
> If no one is interested, I simply will update these author’s notes with basic stuff about the chapter, and maybe some intentions I had in general. I will see :P
> 
> That leaves me with nothing more to say, except cringingly say one last time
> 
> NO EMOJI


	16. Author's commentary

**So here we are. After 51255 words (according to AO3) I poured out for this story, I will try explain to what this story is for me personally and what I tried to achieve overall along with single chapters commentaries.**

**Funny that everything started just on a whim, because I was bored. I had no clue what to do with this story, nor was I sure if it would be more than a one-shot. Though, I started the second chapter soon after I finished the first xD**

**Anyway, the first thing I want to point out is, that above all else, I see this fanfic as a story about an introvert.**

**I didn’t intended it to be that from the beginning, but after I saw how easy it was for me to write down Max’s thoughts, I wanted to maintain that and even go a few steps further with it.**

**I read many fanfics before I started my own and I never saw one which really delve into the depth of that aspect of the game. And I personally think that the game does a wonderful job of portraying the characteristics of an introvert personality. That’s why I wanted to give credit to this with my own spin on things.**

**Another reason I went down this route is, that I wanted to show people different aspects of the inner world of an introvert, in general and in different kind of situations. Of course this is all based on my own experiences and probably doesn’t apply exactly to everyone else :P**

**How did I came up with the plot of the fic?  
Well, I got the basic idea for it somewhere between chapter 2 and 3, I think. Stevo made comment that “** Omg. I am so sorry. Are you hurt? I just couldn’t hold back, you looked so cute with your freckles and blue eyes. Say do you like girls?“ **which Rachel says, was the best sentence. I thought to myself, “So, why not end it like this? Maybe with a kiss?”**

**Thinking about it some more, I liked the idea. And I also knew I had to build up to that moment to make it believable (a word I overuse in A/N and I will overuse here xD)**

**So what did I have to do for making this one kiss as believable as possible?  
My idea was something like “I need to let Max and Rachel bond with each other in some way. It probably needs some sort of conflict before they actually bond. But how do I set the conflict up? Maybe I can use some thingy with Chloe, where Rachel isn’t with them.”**

**Something like that crossed my mind. I know I planned that Chloe to lash out on Max at the beginning too, but I forgot how exactly I came to that idea. Sorry :D**

**Okay, that was the rough outline I had for the story and everything in between I either improvised or came up with it later on.**

**I will go deeper into that when I go through each chapter separately.**

**But before I do that, I want to talk a bit about the characters themselves. That means how are my thoughts about them, and how I tried to approach them in the story.**

**In general I have to say, that I tried to be as close to the game as possible with all the characters.**

 

* * *

 

**Max:**

**First of** **all is of course Max. In my opinion, her character is the easiest to hit for yourself but the hardest for others. The reason is, every** **one has their own view on her personality and given the nature of the game, you can decide on how some details about her character will be. More or less.**

**Speaking for me, I probably made her a bit too dorky. Maybe not so much with her thoughts, but probably when she interacts with other people. I let her zone out at the beginning of the fic quite often and I always intended to let that vanish later on, which thankfully happened naturally.**

**Not gonna lie here, the behavior and thoughts of Max is a lot like my own. That’s why it was fairly easy to write them all down, most of the time. But I also had to consider a lot of things we know about her from the game and how it would apply in specific situations and interactions with the other characters.**

**It was a lot of fun playing with Max inner monologues as a narrator, but also let her mind drive away in some situations or let her talk to herself for motivation or just because she has a silly thought, things like that. I hope I was still close to her personality in the game.**

 

**Rachel:**

**As fo** **r Rachel, I a** **lways imagined her personality as being cheerful, positive and strong willed girl, who knows exactly how she comes off around others. And that mixture was what people draws towards her. They just like being around her.**

**As an extrovert, she mostly does things before she thinks about it. With that, plus her being generally very playful about stuff, it was easy to come up with the many funny scenarios between her and Max.**

**I have to say, the source of the interactions between Max and Rachel are a result from conversations I often have with myself in my own head, as dumb as that sounds xD**

**So you can say, they both mirror a good part of my own personality.**

 

**Chloe:**

**To** **Chloe I can** **say, that I had a hard time writing her. Of course I also tried to be close to the game with her, but I don’t know if I did that good of a job. I think with Rachel alive, she also would have a rebellious side, but she wouldn’t be as angry or snappy or things like that in general.**

**In the end, she had far more screen time during the course of the fic as I imagined she would have in the end. I rather saw her as a character that just appears, but never will be one of the main characters of the story.**

**I still hope I did well enough and gave her the credit she deserves.**

 

**Victoria:**

**I kno** **w I portray her pretty bitchy and she doesn’t have that much time in the fic, but that’s what I like about it.**

**I liked the idea of her being in a side story, which is told very vague and alongside the main plot of the fic. I tried put in subtle hints on a few occasions, which should show that there’s a bit more story to her than I was showing. Maybe it was a bit too subtle to notice, but I still like the way it is.**

**In the end, I hope I somewhat showed that she also has another side that we don’t see, when Rachel mentioned on the roof, that they both were friends once, but Rachel fucked up somehow.**

 

**Kate and Dana:**

**My ideas for Kate and Max interactions together were mostly defined by the hospital scene in the game. I can’t help but to think, whenever they are together, there’s just this sweetness overload which resulted in the slightly flirty behavior that Max show’s mostly towards her in my fiction.**

**For Dana on the other hand, I only thought about her as this friendly cheerleader, which just is nice towards Max. That’s all there is to it :D**

 

* * *

 

**Now with that out of the way, let’s get into each chapter itself and the intentions I had in mind while I wrote them. I have to point out that my memories of the earliest chapters are somewhat blurry and I may have forgotten a few things during the time. But I will try my best :D**

 

**Chapter 1: Welcome to the dork side**

**There’s not much I can think of on this one. As I stated before, I completely started this fic on a whim and came up with everything on the fly in this chapter. One thing I want to mention is, that Max probably appears as more open and outgoing in this first chapter as in the later ones. I'm mixed about this to be honest. On the one side I think it fits somehow but on the other side it seems a bit off. Well, it's not a biggie imo :D**

 

**Chapter 2: Timeout**

**I started this chapter before the first one was even released.**

**I had the idea of introducing Kate and Victoria for some reasons, which I don’t know anymore. I probably just got the idea and went through it.**

**I remember that I had a hard time to find a way to find a start for the conversation with Kate, but it eventually turned out quite alright in my opinion :D**

**I wrote Max not as being super shy towards Kate, because I think that Max in general isn’t reluctant per se when someone approaches her and does better on one on one situations. It also helps that Kate is friendly and doesn’t try to be a burden at all. You get the idea :D**

**With Victoria I had no plans at that time in regard to how she would affect the story later on. As I explained in the A/N for that chapter, I wasn’t sure how mean I would make her to be. In retrospect, I’m glad that I went the route that I did in that chapter, because it was a good use for future chapters.**

**Here I also showed that Max has this very shy and “defenseless” side of her, which we know from the game.**

**I’m not quite sure if the ‘Rachel texting Max’ thing was a spontaneous idea or not, but the way how Rachel got the number was always intended to be like this. It was probably a bit too much of a stretch for it being realistic, but eh, I like it nonetheless :P**

 

**Chapter 3: Adventure time**

**I originally planned this and the next chapter to be a single one. Turned out that this part got long enough to be a chapter on its own, so I decided to polish it and get it out into the world :D**

**Not much to say here despite having a lot of Max's thoughts in it and an introduction of Max’s Mom, who maybe worries a bit too much, haha :D**

**Pretty much everything was improvised and I only had to come up with a way for Max to find Rachel’s room. I don’t really know when I had the idea to use the dorm map for this issue. *shrugs***

 

**Chapter 4: Food date**

**Okay, the beginning of the chapter xD**

**I was hit by a flash of inspiration and I just wrote that Rachel super tease, because I found it hilarious and dumb :D**

**By the way, that is how I mostly go about those moments. If I think it’s a pretty dumb idea, I know I got it right xD**

**For the content itself, I again just wrote on the fly without much plan to it. I only knew I wanted to throw Dana in and came up with that fashion magazine thingy, because I think Rachel and her would talk about stuff like that.**

**I made Rachel typing something into her phone at the end, and I didn’t have a plan what that possibly could be at that time. As it turned out later on, that was the moment when Rachel made up her plan to let Chloe and Max meet, so she wrote a text to Chloe.**

**I have to anticipate a bit now, because it fits in here better than later on. In chapter 13, when Max and Rachel are at the rooftop, Rachel told Max that she tested her. I found that a very vague statement and never explained that properly.**

**What I thought about was that Rachel’s teasing in this chapter and in the previous ones were just the testing that she mentions. Means that Max showing her** **vulnerable side by telling Rachel about what Victoria did, Rachel realizes that Max isn’t much of a threat to Chloe and is in general a shy person and all that things. And that’s why Rachel decides to arrange that meet up with Chloe.**

**I hope that makes sense somewhat, because I haven’t planned that when I wrote the chapter. I just thought it would fit and would be a nice touch to add. :D**

 

**Chapter 5: The universe**

**Again, I planned this and the following chapter to be a single one. I didn’t have much time to write at this time of the story, so I decided to add a few more things with Dana and released it as a separate chapter.**

**Once again, I wrote things just as they flew by. If I remember right, the thing with Dana giving Max the blue eyeshadow which we see in the game, was also a spontaneous idea. A little thing which I like about this chapter :D**

 

**Chapter 6: Blackwell kingdom**

**Finally, here is something I planned, whether you believe it or not :P**

**Well, or at least had a basic idea of before I started the chapter. Rachel is showing Max the school was a spontaneous idea I got while writing the end of the previous chapter. Thankfully I had enough time to think about it this time xD**

**It’s the only time that Warren appears in-person in my fic. I wanted to get that in and show that Max likes that nerdy guy and even find him funny in that small amount of interaction. (Take that fandom! Well, I have a lot of tiny slaps against the fandom in my fic, so totally intended)**

**I loved the idea of Rachel grabbing Max and just walks off with her from Warren. Just another situation where I had a dumb idea and went through it :D**

**What I had a hard time with, was how I would approach a tour through the whole school. Thank god I got the idea with Kate and used the fact that Max was late anyway.**

**The main idea of this chapter was to show Max and the readers that Rachel is a popular girl. Of course it draws attention when the most popular girl walks around with a newbie at school, so I let Max notice that the people around them were looking at them both and mumblinge something. A thing I threw in here and then later on too.**

**Another small thing I want to mention is, when Rachel and Max approach Victoria, Courtney, Taylor and Kate, I let Taylor and Courtney share an unsure look.**

**With that I wanted to hint that they both are a bit unsure about the situation now, because as I mention way later in chapter 13, Victoria and Rachel were friends once.  
**

**Chapter 7: Surprise**

**Wuhu, finally the chapter where the whole plot of the fic starts! Only took me almost half of the entire story xD**

**As I said in the A/N for the chapter, the scene with Kate was only there because Stevo (as always) mentioned he wanted more Kate, so I wrote more Kate on the fly. Turned out pretty funny I think.**

**On a side note, I mention that Kate wants to hear Max playing her guitar and Max agrees to it. I never forgotten this, but I also never intended it to be in my story. Given that this fic takes place during five days and with all the events, which awaits from now on, Max wouldn’t have time to practice and it wouldn’t make any sense to fit that in. At least in my opinion. So sorry for that :D**

**Anyway, I pondered about if I let Rachel be with some of her fanclub groupies at the parking lot and let Max make a comment about it. Turns out I decided against it for some reasons I forgot.**

**Initially, I wanted to reveal some more informations about Rachel during the car ride and let Max know her a bit better. Somehow, it didn’t go that way when I wrote the conversation and I didn’t wanted to force it.**

**And now we are coming to the junkyard.**

**A short detail before we come to Chloe. Here is the only time where I hint how Rachel truly feels inside, when she says to Max:** “You are already way cooler than most other peeps I know.” **And I also let Max point out that she sounds more serious than usual.**

**And with that, we arrived at the first appearance of Chloe in the story.**

**Of course I knew how that scene would go and because of that I needed very very good reasons for Chloe to act the way she did. In fact, the reasons always crossed my mind while writing previous chapters and even some occurred out of nowhere when I reached to this point of the story.**

**I also was aware of the fact that the readers would know that the girl who appeared is Chloe, but I liked the idea for naming her the first time in the story to be the last word of the chapter.**

**As for Max, I never put that much thoughts in how she would react to Chloe’s raging and how it would affect her. I went with what felt right at the moment and I honestly thought I maybe overdid it a little bit with her having a breakdown.**

**Now I can say, that I’m very happy with that outcome, because its results are the next two chapters, which are my personal favorites.**

 

**Chapter 8: Remorse**

**The reason why they are my favorites is simply, because there is so much of myself in them.**

**The game doesn’t show us much of how Max would be in that situation so I had to use my own experience for that. This wasn’t a big deal because I also wanted to show you all what maybe is going on inside a person, when something like that happens and the person turns all silent.**

**Before I go deeper into this, I want to shed some light on Rachel’s side.**

**She is pretty good at reading people and just knows that it wouldn’t do anything if she pressures Max to talk about the situation. At the same time she feels responsible for what happened which is another reason why she escorts Max to her dorm room.**

**Going back to Max, I wrote her like she doesn’t pay much attention to her surroundings, both on the way to the dorm and even when they are inside the room. I simply did because nothing matters for her at the moment. She’s feeling guilty for the past 5 years and all the feelings she had suppressed during the time finally came to the surface. Because until that event with Chloe, she still had hope that everything will be alright again somehow.**

**But now, Max thinks that everything is over and that it is all too late and that she screwed up everything by herself. It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not, she thinks everything is her fault and that she isn’t a good person at all.**

**She also knows that it isn’t Rachel’s fault at all and that’s why she remains calm towards her. However, she feels bad about asking her to leave, because she knows Rachel doesn’t deserve it, but Max wants and needs to be alone.**

**It’s the same for the phone call with her mom. With the phone call I touch a topic, which I go deeper in the next chapter.**

**Basically, Max 'fakes' that she is alright in order to avoid questions from her mom, because she doesn’t want to deal with it right now. Of course Vanessa feels that something is wrong, but doesn’t press any further because the author simply decided that way :P**

**Oh and Vanessa knows her daughter, so see it as you like xD**

**Another thing I needed that scene for is to get rid of Max’s god damn phone :D**

**I thought a lot about how I get Max to not have it after this point in the story because it was crucial for the later happenings of the fic. I’m glad I came up with that idea because I think it makes sense in the context and makes everything more believable.**

**Going back to the scene with Taylor. I only put that in to show that there is some backstory to Rachel and Victoria. I also pondered it to be Courtney who is sitting there, but decided for Taylor because bigb3ar_2** **nd** **has a liking on her :D**

 

**Chapter 9: Fake**

**As I explain later in the fic, Rachel is on her way to Chloe at that time of the story and asked Dana to keep an eye on Max. Because Max’s phone is turned off, the alarm doesn’t ring and Max is still asleep due to her crying half the night.**

**I think it’s also safe to assume that Max doesn’t think about her phone at all with everything that happened the day before. Means it was easy to just let her forget that she threw it away :D**

**What I tried to convey in this chapter was that Max has no choice but to go to classes and with that to interact with other people. And as I explained above, to avoid any questions, attention or things like that, she tries to act like everything is alright.**

**The bad person I am, I let her bump into Stella in the shower room, who confronts her a bit with gossip blabla, which goes around.**

**My intentions with that was to give Max and the readers a little insight about the gossip around the campus. Also, I like Stella :P**

**I’m not quite sure how well I got that “fake” thing across in that chapter. I just hope it was good enough to understand.**

**As for Rachel not checking on Max during the lunch break or whenever. Well, I don’t have a good explanation for that, so I will just go with: She was occupied with peeps because she is popular. That has to be enough for all of you. My story, my rules :P**

 

**Chapter 10: Falling back**

**I think I already said that in the A/N for this chapter. I watched a video about Max and Chloe moments in the game to refresh my memory for the dynamic between both of them.**

**My idea in general for this chapter was that it would be awkward at first, because of what happened and neither of them know how to start. But all it needed was one small nudge to let them both fall back (hehe) in their old behavior.**

**It maybe looks like Max’s belly grumbling at the best possible time just so I can end the scene. (which would be true)**

**On the other side, when Max and Chloe start to joke with each other, most of the pressure and worries of Max go away. That means she eases up and isn’t as tense anymore and her body can work normally again. If you get what I mean :D**

**I mostly improvised the conversation between them, except the explanation part at the end. I myself was pretty surprised how much reasons Chloe had, which lead her to burst out on Max and Rachel back in the junkyard.**

**I hope the reasons were believable and made sense considering her personality :D**

 

**Chapter 11: Good times**

**Oh boy, this chapter...**

**I personally think that this chapter turned out to be the worst of all. I really don’t like it that much.**

**To be honest, I wrote a lot without much of a break (for my circumstances) and I wanted to finish this chapter before I had to go into a long holiday. I knew I wouldn’t write anything during that time and I also didn’t want to let you all wait for too long until the next chapter release.**

**It also didn’t help that I haven’t planned this chapter at all. Or better said, I wasn’t sure if this chapter would be needed or not.**

**In my original plans, the next thing would have been that Chloe drives Max back to Blackwell and Rachel lashes out on Max, which is basically the next chapter. I felt like that this would have been too much bad stuff in a row, so I decided to give everyone a little break to let things cool down.**

**On a positive note, that decision helped me to let the story take place during the course of five days, which is a thing I always planned.**

**Another lucky thing was when Max typed something into Chloe’s phone. I didn’t know how to use it at the time when I wrote it. As it turned out, the idea let me set up the setting of the last chapter later on :D**

**In the end, the idea of the chapter was to let Max and Chloe just be themselves and doing their usual banter we all love about their relationship :D**

**On a side note, in the entire fic I reduced the amount of Max’s thoughts whenever she is with Chloe. With that, I wanted to show how comfortable Max is around Chloe. She doesn’t care much about what Chloe thinks of her, because she knows she wouldn’t be judged or anything.**

**I wonder how many of you noticed that small detail :D**

 

**Chapter 12: Missed**

**Okay, for this chapter I reread all of my previous chapters to refresh my memories about all the stuff that happened.**

**It was a much needed thing to do. Not only to refresh my memories about the stuff that happened so far, but also to consider many things for the next chapters. Especially this one.**

**A few examples I can think of would be:**

**-Max doesn’t know about her schedule.**

**-Max still wears the same clothes. Would Victoria make a comment about that?**

**-Would Kate send a text to Max because she is worried?**

**-Would there be texts from Max’s mom because they haven’t talked the day after the phone call?**

**-The thing that Max typed into Chloe’s phone and sent it to her own phone.**

**-And other things like that which I can’t remember anymore.**

**However, let’s start at the beginning.**

**The scenes with Chloe and Kate were just there to have a nice, smooth start into the chapter and not going too fast to the tense stuff later on. I mostly improvised again, though I had to consider some things as I said above.**

**Before we are talking about the time after class and the stuff with Rachel, I want to talk about one thing.**

**I am aware that Max maybe could have seen Rachel somewhere during school time. My explanation for this is that Rachel simply avoids her and achieves not to be seen by her.**

**What plays into that, is the fact that I had the idea with Kate helping Max with her homework during the lunch break. I’m glad I had that idea, because it helped me to make this a bit more believable :D**

**Okay, now we are coming to the time after class with Rachel and Max at the door in the dorm.**

**It turned out pretty much exactly how I always imagined it. I wanted it to be a surprise for readers, because up until now I always showed Rachel as that happy girl. I also wanted to raise the question 'what the fuck is going on right now?' :P**

**The idea behind Rachel’s reaction was to show that she is pissed and stubborn and doesn’t really listen to Max on one side. But on the other side, she doesn’t reject Max immediately, even if she doesn’t let her speak at all. You can say she is very conflicted on the inside.**

**The conflict with Victoria after that scene maybe wasn’t really necessary, however I think it will be more clear when I talk about chapter 14 why I put that in..**

**When Max is back in her room, I had to think about how things will go from now on in a logical way.**

**I had to consider how Max would react with the current situation, what she would do now, how many messages would be on her phone and how she would answer the texts and all that stuff.**

**In the end, it turned out to be longer than I thought to be honest. The only thing I had planned for this scene was: “Rachel texts Max to come up to the roof.” So I had little bit of work there, but it was pretty fun to be honest :D**

**I never planned Chloe to make an appearance here. Thinking about it, it makes sense to include her. It also leads up to that extra Coke thing which happens in the last chapter. Another thing I haven’t planned at all xD**

 

**Chapter 13: Tired**

**Finally, finally I got to write this chapter! I had it in my mind for soooo long and thought a lot about it while writing the previous chapters. I think it was something around between chapter 2 and 3 when I knew this scene would happen as the main bonding point of Max and Rachel. I can say, I am very happy that it turned out very close to how I always imagined it :D**

**I wanted the chapter to be sweet with Rachel and Max holding hands for such a long time.**

**I wanted the chapter to be a bit sad with showing a rather defeated and defenseless Rachel.**

**And, I wanted the chapter to be calm, with them both just being themselves under the stars.**

**There’s one thing that didn’t turn out like the way I imagined. In my mind there was always a full moon present, but when I looked up the day on the internet, it turned out there wasn’t a moon at all on that day.**

**Well, a fact that I used for a little thingy in the next chapter.**

**So, starting with the explanation why Rachel raged out on Max. I thought about that a long time while writing the previous chapters. I had ideas like, she got a lot of pressure from her parents or other stress in general. I even had an idea to be something with drugs or Frank or similar things.**

**In the end, it was a very easy and clear decision how I would go about it.**

**The first point Rachel makes that she is popular and feels like she wears a mask and all the feelings that go along with it is something I experienced myself during the time I wrote that fiction. Because of that, this chapter was also a very personal one for me to write.**

**Even if it was something I had first hand experience with, I had a very hard time to get across how being popular and the urge to please everyone draws out the energy of yourself and how the personality slowly became a mask where you are somewhat imprisoned in it.**

**Sincerely, I hope I could make that understandable and believable as much as possible to all of you. On a further note, I only scratched the surface of that whole thing in the chapter, there are so much more feelings and other stuff involved, which would have taken too long to explain in full depth.**

**In addition to that first point above, she got silence from Chloe and Max on the previous day.**

**That results in Rachel fearing that she had lost Chloe to Max, because she knew how much they mean to each other. On top of that is the fact that it would be kind of her own fault too, because she was the one who brought them together in the first place.**

**Considering all that stuff and the fact that Rachel also has an impulsive side, I think it’s understandable that she would explode on Max.**

**What I explain later in the last chapter is that Chloe wrote Rachel after she stopped to block her on the phone. (I hope it makes sense that Chloe would do such a thing considering she was pissed at the time Rachel gave her a beating)**

**Now that Chloe contacted her and Max also tried to talk to her and even apologized with messages, Rachel knew it was just a dumb coincidence and that everything is alright.**

**She goes up to the roof to do some thinking and texts Max later on.**

**That’s how I think of the happenings and thought process behind Rachel’s actions :D**

**For me, that whole rooftop scene is the moment when Rachel realizes that she has feelings for Max. I like to think the main reason is because Max tries to understand her and is actually just listening to her.**

**One can argue that it would be the same with Chloe, but I think Chloe maybe would listen, but that’s about it. Given her personality and having her own shit to deal with, I think she rather would try to distract Rachel with some shit or something like that. But that’s just my take on it :P**

**The thing Rachel says about Victoria was an idea I also had for a long time. As I said at the beginning, I tried to redeem. I showed her mostly bitchy in the story, but as we know from the game, there is more to it than just that one side.**

**I like the idea that Rachel and Victoria were friends once and that Rachel screwed it up somehow. I pondered a long time about what the reason possibly could be, but I couldn’t come up with anything at all. That’s the reason why I left it open.**

**Everyone is welcome to think of their own thing what possibly could have happened between them :P**

**The reasoning Rachel gives for why Victoria is bitchy towards Max and Kate is just an assumption from Rachel. If it’s true or not, I don’t know. It’s just a possibility :D**

**A little note at the end. I think I only used the word “ya”, which Rachel uses most of the time, once in this chapter. I did this on purpose to show that Rachel actually is serious and not in her usual playful self.**

**I’m curious how many of you noticed that :D**

 

**Chapter 14: Getting started**

**Heh, I love this title for the second to last chapter xD**

**This chapter is basically a mix of filling some holes and setting things up for the end.**

**Starting at with the first scene, I had that idea of Rachel sneaking in Max’s room back in chapter 12, I think.**

**It was a fun way to get back to Max and Rachel’s usual dynamic. What I had to consider was the character development of them both during the story.**

**That counts more for Max than for Rachel.**

**Max knows Rachel by now and is pretty comfortable around her. That means she is more inclined to go along with the fun Rachel pulls most of the time. In fact, I hope I showed that they both are very comfortable with each other with that silly scene :D**

**If you remember, Rachel asks Max if she is okay with her coming along at Two Whales. With that I wanted to hint that Max’s opinion is important to her and that Rachel has developed feelings for Max. I know, it’s just a tiny little thing, but I think it’s an important detail :D**

**I will skip Kate for now and come back to her later, where it fits better.**

**The message that Rachel wrote on Max's plate. Well that was the tiny idea I got with the missing moon in the previous chapter. Just a sweet little thing which Rachel did as she saw Victoria’s message :D**

**The scene with Max changing clothes, well I think I said in the A/N already that I came up with it on the fly. In the end, it may made the chapter a tiny bit too long, but I don’t care. I just love that dumb scene xD**

**Coming to Dana.**

**Well the only thing I wanted with this scene is to explain that Rachel asked her to keep an eye on Max and to make sense why Dana knocked on Max’s door that day. I think normally Dana wouldn’t notice who had left the dorm by now and who not. I wanted to keep it rather short and I hope it didn’t feel like I used Dana only for that, even if I did exactly that :D**

**One little thing I want to point out is, after Max closed the door to Dana’s room she suddenly starts to sprint and ended it with a little jump at the end of the stairs. Well it’s because with what Dana told her about Rachel and the message on the plate, along with their bantering in the morning and the previous night on the rooftop, Max has already feelings for Rachel, but hasn’t realize it yet. At least that’s my take on it.**

**That only leaves the scene of Victoria and Kate in the yard.**

**I also had this fight with Victoria in mind for almost since the beginning of the story. Originally, I imagined it to take place in the classroom, with some crowd already there and maybe even Rachel watching. Something like that.**

**The thing is, if I would have placed that scene in the school building, I probably had to write another chapter and come up with some filler stuff, only for that one thing to happen. While starting to write that chapter, I got that idea of Max going to classes together with Kate and letting her bump into Victoria while Max talks to Dana. I liked that approach as it felt smooth and fitting in my opinion.**

**The only downside is, that the chapter ended up with too much happenings and maybe feels like there’s a lot of stuff pressed into it. Nonetheless I still like this solution very much :P**

**I also don’t focus on Kate that much in this chapter, except for the short talk in her room. The reason for that is, because she had a lot of screen time in my the story already, plus I didn’t want to make that chapter any longer than necessary.**

**With that out of the way, we can talk about the argument with Victoria.**

**My basic idea behind this was, to show Max's character development during the fic.**

**If you think about Chapter 2, I portray her being shy and defenseless when Victoria mocks her.**

**With that argument, I wanted to show that with Rachel’s influence and with all the drama being solved, Max is more comfortable and at peace with herself and actually doesn’t scare away from confrontation. In other words, she is more brave than she was before.**

**Another thing that adds to it is the fact that Max stays up for a friend without even thinking about it. We also can see this in Episode 1, where we can choose to do the exact same thing when David picks on Kate. That’s where my inspiration came from with this scene :D**

**What also was important to me was that Max isn’t realizing how she changed. She doesn’t even give it second thought to jump in between Victoria and Kate. Furthermore, Max doesn’t point out that she was brave enough to jump in. My reason here was again that Max doesn’t realize it herself and I didn’t want to throw that fact right into the readers face. You can say I wanted to let the scene speak for itself :D**

**Fun fact. In the first draft I wrote of the fight, Max was aggressive as fuck and was on the edge of punching Vicky in the face. Only when Kate calls out to her, Max snapped out of her rage xD**

**That wasn’t very Max-like if you think about Max’s and Victoria’s conversation in Episode 4 at the party and in Episode 5 after the time jump back to the classroom. Meant I had to soften the scene a bit :D**

**Another little fun fact at the end, Victoria calls Max actually “Max” and not “Maxine” despite her knowing that Max hates to be called like that. I think I mentioned this in one of my earlier chapters. With this detail, I wanted to show that Victoria actually respects Max in a way and that there is indeed a good side to her, like Rachel implied the chapter before.**

**For me, this last interaction between Max and Victoria concludes their story in this fanfic. If they will be friends or not in the future is up to everyone’s own imagination :D**

 

**Chapter 15: I think**

**When I started Chapter 13, I already knew how many chapters will be left to write. I always planned a scene with all three girls at the diner taking place pretty close to the end of the story.**

**Then, I thought it would be a nice touch to let it actually be the last chapter. I liked the idea that it would give the readers a nice impression of their dynamic together and my take on it :D**

**Except one thing I had written a looong time ago (Where Rachel says that Max can do whatever she want with her) I didn’t have much of a plan what will happen at the diner. Thought I knew I somehow had to “get rid” of Chloe in order to let the story end like the way I always intended to.**

**It maybe wasn’t the best or the most smooth way for Chloe to disappear like that. I had a lot of time to think about something better, but I couldn’t come up with any better solution.**

**The only other idea I had was to let Chloe have a job and let her be at work at the same time Rachel and Max are at the lighthouse. An idea I didn’t like that much to be honest.**

**The fact I knew this would be the last chapter, I wanted to have Max and Chloe a little time alone together. That’s the reason why I started it outside the diner with Rachel already inside, ordering things for them all. Which also solved the problem I had with them actually ordering food.**

**Let them order things while they are together inside and by the time the food arrives, would have taken too long in my opinion, or it wouldn’t have felt very believable when it arrived too fast. That’s how I came up with the idea that Rachel already ordered, which lead to a fun moment, hopefully :D**

**On a side note, in the game you only can see the breakfast menu. So I looked up which food you can order at the Blue Moon Diner, which Two Whales is based on :D**

**What I tried with the diner scene was to show that all three of them are very relaxed around each other and they can just be themselves without worrying about anything. I also tried to give everyone of them the same attention and not focus on one person more than another. I’m not really sure if I have achieved that balance.**

**The short appearance from Joyce was a little touch I wanted to add. I didn’t wanted it to be like all huggy and smootches, but rather more like a “Heya, good to see you, how are you doing?” kind of thing.**

**One reason for that is that Joyce already knew that Max is in town, either from Chloe or because Max parents called Joyce (if you remember, when Max and Chloe had that sleepover, Max called her parents and said she is at Chloe’s home). Also, in the game it’s more like a normal greeting than a big reunion.**

**I think I mentioned in the previous chapter that Max wondered that her mom didn’t text her or anything. I actually have two possible reasons for that.**

**Either Max’s dad has convinced Vanessa to give Max a little space with the reasoning that she is almost a grown up now, or Vanessa called Joyce and asked her to keep an eye on Max, which would calm her down somewhat. It’s up to you whatever you would like better :D**

**With eeeverything else out of the way, I finally can talk about the very last scene of the entire story. \o/**

**I can’t say how often I thought about that scene throughout the entire process of writing this fanfiction. Ever since I had the outline and the idea how to end it, I knew exactly how these last moments would look like. Even with going that scene through my mind again and again, I still love the way how it all plays out in the end.**

**Yes, I am very aware that everything ends very suddenly. To be honest, It is somewhat intended and a fact I always knew.**

**For me, this fic is not a story with a defined beginning and not with a defined ending. For me, it is more like we get an insight of that part of Max's life within the period of the five days the story takes place.**

**I honestly don’t know what could happen after that kiss. I never thought any further than this :D**

**Okay, enough blabla around. Lets get to that last scene.**

**Up to that point, I didn’t have an idea how that scene exactly would look like. I only knew I wanted Max to text Kristen (because I mentioned this waaay back at Chapter 7 and needed to put that in) and how the last moments, starting with the kiss would play out.**

**Well, that isn’t entirely true. I rolled the scene at the lighthouse a lot in my head while writing the fic and I already had a rough idea how everything will connect smoothly.**

**So my idea basically was that Max and Rachel enjoying each other’s company at the lighthouse with that cliché sunset atmosphere. Then, Max tells Kristen about her week and about Rachel, and after Kristen points out that Rachel sounds like an amazing person, it clicks in Max’s brain and she realizes at that very moment how she feels about Rachel.**

**Given her character development I tried to achieve during the fic, I wanted her to act spontaneous and not think about what she is about to do. Another reason for that approach was, to surprise all of you, too. That it isn’t Rachel but Max who makes the move :D**

**For the kiss itself, I wanted it to be short, sweet and maybe a bit cheesy.**

**I’m very bad at describing stuff and did poorly with it throughout the entire fic in my opinion. So. you can imagine how often I rewrote that kissing scene while trying to find the right words and that right feeling I tried to get across.**

**It didn’t help that I didn’t want to actually use the word “kiss”. Talking about how to make things even more difficult xD**

**Another thing I wanted to avoid is to not describe the kiss from the perspective of either Max or Rachel. I rather wanted it to be from neutral perspective.**

**And now we are coming to my absolute favorite thing of this chapter and maybe the entire story itself.**

**The way I end it.**

**Nope, I’m not talking about the kiss again :P**

**I’m talking about those exact last thoughts Max has, the exact last line she says and the order which both appears.**

**I hope I can break that up in ways that makes sense to all of you :D**

**One thing I love about her last thought is basically the same thing I love about the chapter title (which both is the exact same, I know xD). With** _‘I think’_ **being the last thought she has, I want to refer to the entire story and how we always got to see what Max's thoughts were and how she perceived things.**

**With that in mind and the fact that this time something Max says and not something Max thinks is the last line of the chapter, I wanted to show once more, how Max herself has grown and is now more outgoing and not that shy girl we knew from the beginning of the story.**

**The other thing I wanted to do with the exact last line is, of course, referring all the way back to the first chapter and bringing this story to a full circle :D**

**As my final words to the story, I want to point out one thing to you girls and guys. Everything that happens in this story only happens to make that one last kiss as believable and realistic as possible! :D**

**(Yes, you can call me insane xP)**

 

* * *

 

**Okay, so now you know most of my thoughts and goals of the fic. I probably forgot to mention some things and details, but eh, I can’t think of everything and it’s pretty long by now anyway :P**

**The last thing I want to talk about is the writing style I chose.**

**Basically it just happened to be the way it is, with Max thinking stuff most of the time and the fact, that I don’t like telling things in just a boring textbox.**

**I find that you lose so much character and personality if you tell the reader how a person feels or what the person thinks, instead of actually showing what the exact action or thought are.**

**The downside of it was, that I had (and wanted) to show body language and describing the way people say something, in order to get across the possible meaning of actions or sentences the characters say.**

**Well, I like that approach because I don’t want to force the reader a specific view on something. I like to let them fill in their own take on things.**

**With me being an inexperienced writer, I think it lead to be sounding repetitive and maybe a bit odd at times.**

**With that said, I am very well aware if you want to tell a story which has a faster pace or even makes large time jumps over weeks, month or years, textboxes are not something you can avoid to do.**

**Choosing them to leave out for my story was not much of a big deal. I needed to build the foundation for what comes later first and had to establish the character of Max and Rachel before I could go further with everything.**

 

* * *

 

**Alrighty, I think that covers everything I wanted to talk about in this author commentary :D**

**A big thanks to everyone who were crazy enough and took their time to read all that blabla about my thoughts behind my story :D**

**If there are still questions you have, leave them in the comments and I will try to answer as good as I can :D**

**At last, a huge thanks to Stevo (you know his name by now :P).**

**To be completely honest, without him and his fanfiction “The Twin Moons” my story never would have happened. His story is the reason why I started to love Rachel as a character and without his encouraging words every now and then, I probably would have given up somewhere in the middle of the story. He also rose the quality of the fic when he started to proofread my stuff halfway through the story. So again, thank you very a lot, Stevo :D**

**And of course and most importantly, I want to thank everyone who took the time and read through my story and didn’t give up on the first few chapters, despite the bad grammar :D**

 

**Take care folks x3**

**I’m out :D**

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Alright! Here I am to proof every one of you that I am not a writer. Given that I am no native english speaker and have no plan what to write, what could possibly go wrong, right? :P Please have mercy with grammar and other mistakes <3
> 
> I often say that I am not a writer to other authors and members in my community, when they say “you should write something” and up until now I always was happy to just read fanfics. What changed? Not much, I just gone insane and put more on the list I want to do this year T_T
> 
> About the chapter itself,  
> I know already how I want to end it and I have 2-4 events in my mind. But according to how much I changed in that chapter I don’t know how the fanfic will turn out. Nothing is set in stone yet. We will see where it all leads haha :D
> 
> As you have seen Max thoughts are everywhere. These parts were the easiest for me to write, so we will see a lot more of it in the future! :D I just hope I haven’t made Max too dorky. On the other side she was totally overwhelmed by the “mysterious girls” sass :P
> 
> Speaking of, sorry for always referring to her as “..girl” blablabla. I didn’t want to describe any details to keep her person a secret up until the end of the chapter. Please forgive me that, it will be better in the future! Promise :D
> 
> The chapter title is totally stolen from my fellow LiS Fan Samm and “Give it another shot” is a friendly nod MaiQueti and her Fanfic. :D
> 
> And with that I thank you for reading my first chapter. Please leave review what you think about it, if you feel like it. Thanks <3
> 
> NO EMOJI


End file.
